Trying
by xJustLizzyy
Summary: Rise of the Guardians Highschool AU. Jack lost his little sister, and now he has to deal with Highschool. *contains eating disorders*
1. Sisters

**I had to do this for my lit class so, haha enjoy.. **

My name is Jack. I walk down the halls of the high school. The walls are white with purple lockers, completely crowded with students trying to get to their classes. I'm about 5'8 and everybody seems surprised when I say I only weigh 100 pounds. I have semi-short white hair that is always a mess. It was over halfway through the school year, winter almost being over. I transferred here at the beginning of the year. I still don't seem to have many friends or "fit in." I'm only fourteen; my mom had insisted on me skipping 6th grade. The bell had rung a minute ago and I just now open the door to my classroom.

"Sorry," I said as I grabbed the tardy note from my teacher.

"That's your second one in the last week. One more and you'll be getting detention. Now get to your seat!"

I walked to the back of the room and sat down. It's quieter back here, which is why I like it. I tried to listen to the lesson but my mind kept going off to my sister and family. My mom was kind. She was always supportive of my sister and me. My dad was gone very often for work; I've only seen him a few times. My sister, Emma, is very sick. We had to move here 8 months ago due to her condition getting worse. She is only 7 years old. At first we thought it was just a cold. It lasted for months and finally my mom got enough money to send her to the hospital but the closest hospital was in the next town, this one. She was there for almost a month before my mom decided for us to move to here to be closer to her. My uncle lived in the town and was willing to let us stay there with him. We've been here for awhile and the hospital still doesn't know what is wrong. They told us for all of the confusion going on, they'd pay for all her medical bills so that was a relief. But still, we are all so scared for Emma...

The bell rang signaling that class is over and I realized I hadn't been listening to the class discussion at all. Oh well. I sigh and head out.

"Hey Jack!" someone yelled as I was walking to my next class.

I didn't look back to see who it was. I knew. I ignored the voice and walked with my head down, trying to block out anything else the voice might say.

"I heard your sister is sick," the voice continued on.

"Why do you care?" I hardly mumbled under my breath.

"Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you!" the voice behind him said as the person grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me to face him.

"Go away Eric," I said sternly as I push him away from me.

"Is little Jack scared his sister won't make it?"

"I'm going to be late to class again. Go away."

"Fine." Eric said as he shoved me back into the lockers. I stumbled and dropped my backpack as my papers and books flew everywhere. The halls were crowded with teenagers who kept stepping on everything that fell out. The bell rang for everyone to get to class and the halls emptied out, yet I was still trying to find all my books and papers that were now up and down the hall.

"Going to be late to class again," I said as I picked up the last paper.

I got to my classroom and slowly opened the door.

"Jack Sifer!" Mrs. Mellingham yelled.

"Sorry I-"

"Do you have a note for me? Any reason to why you are so late?"

"I uh.."

"Speak up!"

"No ma'am"

"I will be forced to put this down as tardy for no reason then. Come after school to speak with me."

"Yes ma'am."

"Sit down, sit down! This is the most important lesson in this class! We need to continue!"

My last class of the day finally ended and everyone was free to go home…well, besides me. I started making my way to Mellingham's classroom when my phone started ringing. I grabbed it and pushed answer.

"Hey, Mom."

"Jack, you're going to have to walk home from school today, okay?"

"Alright but did you get my text? I have to stay after because I was late to Mrs. Mellin- wait, why do I have to walk home today?"

"I got a call from the hospital and the doctor thinks he know what Emma has. She's going to be fine. I'm on my way to the hospital right now."

"What? That's great! What does she have?"

"I need to go now. Call me when you get home."

The call ended and I placed my phone back in my pocket. I sped up walking to my 2nd classroom. Mrs. Mellingham is already going to be mad at me for being late to her class earlier. I don't want to be late to detention too.

"Jack, there you are."

"Sorry I got a call-"

"No need for excuses. So let's get this straight. You come to class 10 minutes late without a note and when I tell you to serve detention after school you come late, too?"

"I'm sorry, my siste-"

"Just sit in here for the next 30 minutes and don't talk. I'll be right in the other room if you need me and I'll check on you."

I sighed. Oh well. At least now I'll have time to get my homework finished. I open my bag and look inside to find my book. Oh yeah, the little hallway experience left everything a mess.

Mrs. Mellingham came back a half hour later…

"So we won't have this problem anymore, right?" Mrs. Mellingham asked as I walked out the door.

"Huh?"

"With you being late, Jack. One more time and I'll have to send you to the office and a note home to your parents."

"Oh uh- yeah. No ma'am. It won't happen again," I said trying to get out of this room. I need to go see Emma!

"Mind telling me why you were late, now? No more excuses."

I wasn't making up excuses earlier, I thought.

"I got a call from my mom and my little sister is in the hospital." I groaned. Hurry please! I would like to see Emma!

"Hmm."

She seemed to be thinking this over for a long time and then said. "Your detention is up so we'll talk about it later. Goodbye."

I silently thanked her for finally letting me go before I sped out of the school. Driving in a car from the school to my house only took 5 minutes, but walking was so much slower! I finally got to my house a few minutes after 4:00p.m. I walked up to the driveway hoping my mother would be back from the hospital but when her car wasn't there I guessed she was still there. I went inside the house and called my mom.

"Hey mom, I'm home. How's Emma?"

"Well, the doctors found out what she has…" I heard my mom say on the other line, in a deep broken down voice.

"And?"

"She has…cancer…leukemia to be exact."

I sat there completely silent.

"She is asleep right now. The doctors say it was surprising that she's just now really feeling the effects of it. For the first month when we thought she just had a cold, it was simple and hardly even there. When we transferred her here, it was worse but she still wasn't feeling many of the effects of leukemia. But now, now she really is. That's why the hospital couldn't figure out what she had. She had the symptoms of just a very sick child with a simple case of the flu. And now, now…" she stopped. I could hear my mom about to cry when she started again "Now...she has cancer. The signs are clearly there now…they said her symptoms are different than most, but that's not completely surprising because leukemia will show up in many different ways."

We sat there in silence for what seemed like hours. My mom finally spoke again, "Do you want to come see her?"

"I don't know, Emma."

"Come on, Jack. Just ask them, please?" begged my little sister with her big eyes.

"But what if-"

"Please?"

"Oh, fine. Be right back," I said as I hopped off the chair sitting next to her hospital bed.

I walked out of her room and went to the desk closest to her room.

"Ma'am," I said.

"Yes? What can I help you with?"

"My little sister, Emma Sifer, she's in room 910. She feels okay now and um…she was wondering if she can get out of her bed and um…walk um…around with me."

"…around the hospital, that is," I added on quickly.

"Oh, I don't know. We don't let many patients out of their beds."

"Please…? She's only 7. You can't expect her to sit in bed all day." I said as I pulled the exact same face Emma just gave me. No wonder where she got that from!

"Oh, okay. But only for a few minutes," the nurse said as she went to Emma's room to help her out.

"Yayy!" Emma cheered as she finally got to walk again.

"So what do you wanna do?"

"Hide and seek!"

"In the hospital? How will that work?" I laughed.

"Like this! You're it!" she said as she ran off laughing.

We spent the next 30 minutes running around trying to catch each other. I was so happy she actually felt well enough to get out of bed. Maybe she'll be okay after all.

"You may now see her," someone said.

I opened my eyes and saw the doctor in front of us. I had been thinking. I really treasured that memory. It was one of the few times she's laughed and smiled since she's been sick.

The doctor led me down many halls and by many doors. I recognized them all from the many times I've visited Emma. I knew where her room was by heart, but I guessed they moved her after they figured out what's wrong. As we were being led through the halls, the doctor talked to us.

"Emma, as you know, has leukemia. We were surprised by how the symptoms of it hadn't shown sooner! Because of all the symptoms she has now, we think she will appear to be better in the next few days. It will be as if she only has a mild cold. That should last about a week. And then, her cancer will go into full effect, lasting only a day and then…"

He didn't finish the last part. And he didn't need to…we all knew what he meant. He stopped walking and unlocked a door.

"Here we are," he said.

I slowly opened the door, and I was greeted by a dirty blonde haired, brown eyed precious little 7 year old jumping into my arms hugging me.

**Okay, so basically if you guys like this I will be so happy to continue this. I've already had so many ideas for what to do. I'm sorry for not using any of the name suggestions you guys gave me, too. I had to completely change the story. But if I continue I will add in the other characters, and this won't be just about Jack's sister. So if you like it PLEASE tell me in reviews! :) Until next time, - Lizzy:3**

**note-I had to change around the dates of how long Jack lived here because I completely messed it up.**


	2. Not Really Living

**Hi guys! Second chapter, yay! :) I finished Frosted Over so now I needed something else to write. Also I used some of your guys name suggestions, so I will put the credit's at the end. Enjoy chapter 2 of 'Trying'!**

**NOTE: In the last chapter, I said Jack had BROWN hair, but I am changing his hair color to WHITE now, I will edit the other chapter and put white hair. :)**

* * *

I'm not living, not _really_.

The bell rings signalling first period started.

"Move over,"

I keep walking with my head down.

"What? Too afraid to talk?"

Pushing him aside, I walk while shaking my head ever so slightly.

"Come come class. Sit down, the bell already rung. Get in your seats now." said my teacher.

"Jake! Tardy again? I could understand the first few, not knowing where your classes are but it's been a week now. Come on. You have detention."

Jake. _Jake_. Because that is totally my name. Thank you Ms. Day for learning my name. Means a lot to me. Whatever. I go and sit down in my seat.

"Psstt!"

I ignore it.

"Psstt!"

I take out my notebook and start the lesson we are working on.

"Hey Jake!"

_Jake. Thank you Ms. Day for getting EVERYBODY to call me Jake._

"I know you can hear me."

Fine.

I look over my right to where the voice was coming.

"Thank you," said a kid with gray hair, a little shorter then mine. "So why are you always so late?"

Why does he care? I just turn back to my notebook, ignoring him for the rest of the class.

* * *

I'm in fourth period when my teacher announces we are doing a group project. Ugh.

"Find your group you want to be in. 3 or 4 people in each group," said my teacher, an old man. But he was kind.

I'll just be in a group with someone who needs another person. I sit in my seat for about 5 seconds, waiting for people to pick their groups when someone walks up to me.

"Jake," called a girl.

I look up from my book to see a girl smiling at me. She has green eyes, and light brown wavy hair with pink and light green streaks in it. She's wearing a light green v-neck top, a light blue mini skirt, black leggings and blue converse. She's really pretty, but I'd never think of her in that way. She's just pretty.

"Wanna be in our group?" She says, motioning to the boy standing next to her.

It's the same guy from earlier. Like I said, he has short gray hair, a red t-shirt with a orange jacket on, and blue jeans.

"It's Jack," I say quietly, correcting her.

"Huh?"

"My name, it's Jack. Not Jake. But yeah, I'll be in your group."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I've just heard _so_ many people call you Jake I just assumed..." she continues on, about how she's sorry.

Once again, thank you Ms. Day. Not. I wonder if I'm in the school system as _Jake_ Overland Frost Sifer.

"But!" She said all the sudden. "Yay, so I'm Tatiana, but people call me Tina for short and this is Evan," She says, smiling.

"Hey," Evan says. "Why did you ignore me ea-" but Mr. Marven saved me.

"Okay class, now that you have your groups. You will be creating a poster board about cancer. You may choose whichever type of cancer you would like. It can't be the same one a different group has. I will come by your table and give you a paper with all the instructions on it. You must run the cancer by me so you will not use the same one as someone else. These projects will be due in 3 weeks, because I expect these to be great. When you turn in it, we will be presenting these infront of the class. For the rest of the class period, you may discuss your topic,"

My stomach hurts.

"Oh! We can make the posterboard so pretty!" exclaimed Tina.

"Sounds like too much work to me." Evan groans.

My head hurts just thinking about this.

"Oh, c'mon! I wonder if there is a cancer that effects your teeth,"

"Oh come on Tina, nobody wants to hear a presentation about that!"

I just look at her strangely, I guess Evan noticed.

"Tina here, is obsessed with teeth. I don't really know why, it's one of her strange things. I like to call her Tooth for fun." He says, laughing.

"Oh be quiet 'BUNNY'! Fine, what cancer would you want to do? Mr. Nobody wants to hear a presentation about teeth,"

"I don't know. I just wish this was more of an exciting topic. Like the first great painter in America? Or maybe about baseball,"

"This is healthcare class, why would we be studying painters and baseball?" She asked.

"Because it's amazing, unlike teeth,"

"How could you say that, teeth are great!"

"No, baseball is!"

"Teeth!"

"BASEBALL!"

"UGH! You're so annoying Evan."

"Jack, don't you think baseball is better then teeth?" Evan asked.

"Uhm"

"Okay, okay. We aren't even discussing cancer..." Tina announces. "I'm sorry you just had to sit there to us arguing. Jack, what would you like to do our project on?"

"I-I don't know...?" I comment

"Oh c'mon you snowball head, you gotta have something." Evan says as he ruffles my hair.

"Snowball head?" I ask curiously.

"Your hair, it's white and messy so it looks like snow."

"Ignore Evan, he just likes giving people nicknames. Like he told you before, he calls me Tooth a lot. Don't worry though, that probably won't be your nickname. He'll probably change it once he gets to know you better." confirms Tina.

"Oh..."

"So what cancer is it gonna be?" Inquires Evan

"Well, more of the main cancers are already chosen. Mr. Marvin already wrote what was taken on the board, you see?" She stops as she motions to the board, where already 4 groups chose a cancer. "So maybe we should do... leukemia?" Tina asks

Really? Really? There are so many different types of cancers, and she just has to chose that one. I feel like throwing up.

My stomach hurts more.

"Ugh why would we do that one?" complained Evan

Going to throw up.

"It's interesting! Better than baseball! What do you think Jack?"

My throat tightened up and I feel like I can't speak.

"Jack? Leukemia?" Tina asks.

"I'd rather do a dif-" I start, but I'm stopped as Mr. Marvin is walking by.

"Leukemia? Your group is doing leukemia? Oh, that's a great choice! Tatiana, Evan and Jake down for Leukemia," Mr. Marvin says as he walks to his board to write it down.

"Okay! Leukemia it is then I guess!" says Tina laughing.

"Whatever," Evan groaned.

I just stay silent.

"So, we have the rest of the class time to talk, since we can't really start on the project without any supplies." Tina comments

"Mm yeah. So Jack, why are you always late to class?" asks Evan.

"Oh... just... don't know my way around the school yet." I say, lying.

"No offense but it's been a week since you came here, Jack. Don't you know where your classes are?"

I shake my head.

"Oh. Well if you want Evan and I can walk you to the classes we have together. Evan is in your 1st period, right? Evan and I are both in 3rd period with you." She pauses. "Do you have 2nd with Jack?" Tina asks Evan.

"Nah. I have art 2nd."

"Oh, no. No. It's fine, you guys don't have to walk me to my classes. I'm fine. Please don't. I'll be fine. I'll try hard not to be late anymore if that's what you're worried about." I throw out of my mouth.

Tina and Evan both look at each other, seeming confused. Ugh why did I just do that...

"Jack why don't-" but Evan was stopped by a big guy with brown hair.

"Bunny! Tooth!" exclaims the guy.

"Hi North!" says Tina, smiling. "Are you and Sean in a group? What cancer are you doing?"

"We are doing brain tumor." confirms 'North'.

"Why did he call you Bun-" I start to ask before I am interrupted.

"Who is this?!" Nathan curiously asks.

"His name is snowball head," Evan comments.

"His name is Jack," confirms Tina. "Jack, this is Nathan, but we like to call him North."

North is a bigger guy. I've seen him around before so I think he's a senior. He has brown hair and the start of facial hair. He's wearing blue jeans and a blue shirt.

"Jack! Nice to meet you. Like Tina said, I'm Nathan or North. This here is Sean." Nathan finishes, pointing to the boy beside him.

Sean waves to me.

He's short. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. He's wearing a green shirt and like all the other guys, blue jeans. He's wearing a necklace with a little tiny jar that looks like it holds sand in it.

"Jack, you asked why Nathan called Evan 'Bunny'? Well, as you can probably tell, we all have nicknames. Evan gave all of them to us. They all have to do with something about us. Sean's is Sandman, because he likes sand. Mine is Tooth, because I am obsessed with teeth, Nathan's is North because he likes Christmas alot, and since Santa Clause lives in the North Pole, and Nathan kinda looks like Santa, then his name is North. I guess Evan didn't give all the nicknames, because obviously he didn't give himself one. We gave it to him. He loves painting and every Easter we spend together, he tells us he has to paint the eggs. So we called him the Easter Bunny, Bunny for short."

"Oh." I say.

The others continue on chatting about everything there is to talk about. The project, winter ending, summer coming, what they're doing this weekend, or anything that comes to mind. But I'm only half listening. I haven't really talked to anybody since I came back to school. A few words through out the day. 'I'm leaving for school', 'I'm sorry I'm late to class', 'Goodnight' are about the only words I've said to anybody since I came back. Luckily, the bell rung not too long after and I was heading out of my classroom when...

"Hey, Jack! Can we work on our project this weekend? Since it is Friday after all. Do you think you could call your parents and ask if you can come over to my house to work on it? Evan, Sean and Nathan are already coming over. We can work on our projects then."

No. No. No. No. Not that I didn't like Tina but no... I just want to go home. I don't want to study about what took the only reason I lived away from me.

"I don't-" I begin

"C'mon snowball head. It's Friday! Just call your parents and ask,"

I think about it for a second. I really don't want to deal with my mom so...

Okay, I'll ask.

"Okay, can you guys wait outside the front of the school for me? I'll call my mom and ask..."

"Yay!" Tina cheered.

"Yeah," said Evan as the others followed him outside.

I walk to the other side of the school and pull out my cellphone.

"Mom? I was wondering if I'd be okay to go to my friend's house and work on some homework,"

A few seconds pass by as the lady on the other side speaks.

"Mom! Why-"

"-just listen to- no! I'm not like-"

"Why do you think it didn't effect me?"

"stop it! I just-"

"It's not my faul-"

"I was calling to ask if I could go to a friend's house, not a lecture on why I'm the worst kid."

The other side hung up.

"It's not my fault..." I whisper to myself as I walk back to the front of the school.

**Name Credits:**

**Tooth-Tatiana by dreamydaydreamer**

**Sandy-Sean by Mimi011 ( I know you said Sean should be North but I liked it for Sandy instead of Sam, cause everyone uses that, so thank you for the idea! )**

**Tooth-Tina(nickname) by SnowFlower-Frost**

**North-Natahn by SnowFlower-Frost**

**Bunny-Evan by SnowFlower-Frost**

**Also, I think I'm going to use the last names that Himeko14X gave.**

**Thank you all for your awesome suggestions, I loved them all, even the ones I didn't use. :) **

**I hope you guys like this story so far. In later chapters it won't be all about Jack's little sister, I just need to start off somewhere. Thank you all for your awesome support on Frosted Over and this story. Please review and tell me what you think! Until next time, - Lizzyy :33**


	3. Hot Chocolate

**Haha, excuse the title name. I was drinking hot chocolate when I wrote this so I just had to put hot chocolate in the story :)**

I walk back to the front of the school, trying to forget what just happened with my mom.

"It's so weird! It's almost March!" I heard Tina say as I approached.

"What?" I say as I reach the group.

"It's snowing!"

"Not just snowing, it's like a blizzard!" exclaimed Evan, pointing out the window.

"It's okay. We can still go to my house though." Tina commented. "Speaking of which, can you come over?"

_Well_, I didn't really get an answer from my mom... but she didn't say no.

I nod.

"Yay!" cried Tina.

"Let's go!" said North.

We walked outside into the snow and cold, although I like it. We reach a silver mustang, and stop.

"Do you want me to drive?" North asked.

"This is my car after all," Tina commented.

"Can you drive in the snow though?"

"Oh fine, you drive," She groaned and threw the keys to North as we all got in the car.

* * *

"I'm so c-c-o-ld!" chattered Evan as we walked into the front door.

The house, from the outside was simple. It wasn't extremely fancy but it wasn't low class. It was in a suburb of houses. Everything was covered in snow, so I couldn't really see the front and colors of the house. I could tell they were starting to put up spring decorations outside front of the house, though. Kinda funny considering there's a snowstorm now. From what I can tell, Tina's probably in the middle-class of people. Maybe the higher of the middle class, but not "rich".

"Mom! I'm home, with Sean, Nathan, Evan, and Jack!" yelled Tina.

"Oh, hi honey!" A lady said, emerging from another room, assuming it's her mom.

"Hey Mrs. Adrina," said Evan.

"Hello Evan, Nathan, and Sean," she pauses for a second, looking at me.

"That's Jack, mom. He's in my group for our homework project in healthcare,"

"Jake?" she asks.

"Jack," I correct her. SERIOUSLY?

"I'm still freezing!" yells Evan.

"I'll make some hot chocolate!" smiles Mrs. Adrina.

"Let's go upstairs and try to start our projects," said Tina, walking upstairs.

We go the stairs to her bedroom.

"Okay, okay. Homework... I hate homework," says Nathan.

"We actually have to research this stuff," groans Evan.

"It's okay! I think I have some encyclopedias in this bookshelf here, somewhere,"

By the time we find the books, Mrs. Adrina came and brought us hot chocolate. Nathan and Sean decided to work in the living room since they aren't in our group.

"Yes!" cries Evan. "Now I won't be freezing!" He says as he grabs his cup from the table her mom put them on.

"Here we go, leukemia," Tina says as we both grab our drinks. "It says here, leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells and starts at the bone marrow,"

"That's weird," Evan comments.

I sigh and put my drink down. I really don't want it anymore.

"Can I go ahead and write some things down?" I ask, wanting to throw up.

"Of course. Come here Evan. Read this with me,"

We work on the project for about an hour. Mostly in silence, except every once in awhile when Evan and Tina laugh about something. My head hurts doing this.

"Okay, can I see what you wrote Jack?"

I move away from the poster board, to show her. Evan and her sit there for about 5 minutes reading everything I put down.

"How do you know so much about leukemia, Jack?" She finally asks. "Evan and I had the book so you couldn't of read it from that..."

"Oh, um... I... I... searched it on my phone?" Lie. I didn't. When... I found... out Emma had-had leukemia, I looked up everything there is to know about it. I wanted to know what she was going through, and I wanted to know how to help her if I could.

"Overachiever over here," Evan says, annoyed.

"So I think when we do this, we should have the actual description of the cancer here, the symptoms here, the background information about it here, and then... the cure here?"

"There is no cure," I say, with absolutely no emotion in my voice.

"What?"

"Well maybe what you could do to make the person live longer?" asks Evan.

"There isn't"

"How do you-"

"Excuse me," I say, interupting Evan.

The second she answers, I'm out of the room. My head is throbbing so badly. I run down the stairs, past the living room where I see Nathan and Sean, past where Mrs. Adrina is cooking in the kitchen, and outside into the snow. I walk to the side of the house out of view and slide down onto the cold wet snow, my back against the house. My knees are up with my hands in my lap. I just sit there for a few minutes, crying very lightly.

"You're so stupid Jack,"

I slam the back of my head against the house. "You're so stupid!"

"Look what you did! Tina and her friends were being so nice to bring you to her house. But you act stupid and leave them confused, so you can go outside and cry,"

"I can't even... you're so stupid!" I yell, while about to sob.

"Mom was right! If I hadn't-if I hadn't of left her... maybe she would still-" I clench my fists.

"...I miss you Emma...I miss you... so much..." I lie with my head on top of my knees for what seems like forever. It's snowing even more but I don't care. If I'm cold, I deserve it.

"What-what do I do now?" I ask myself, in between the sobs of crying. "I can't, I can't just go back inside acting like nothing happened. I can't just leave or they'd worry something happened. What do I do? There's no way I'm telling them about Emma. Ugh! You're so dumb Jack! Why don't you actually think things through before you do them?"

I stand up, feeling dizzy I fall right back down. I groan. I stand up again. I brush the snow off me, although it doesn't help much since it's still snowing. I ruffle my hair back up, which had gotten flat because of the snow. Man, that hot chocolate would be really nice right now. I feel my pocket vibrate and I grab my phone out of it. I check the name. 'Mom'. Sighing, I flip my phone open and answer it.

"Yeah, Mom?" I try to say, making my voice as steady as I can so she doesn't think I was just crying.

"Where am I? I told you! If you actually listened to me you might of known,"

"It wasn't back-talk I was just explaining!"

"If you actually listened to me you wouldn't of been wondering where I was!"

"Oh my gosh Mom,"

"We're working on our homework, I'm not telling them I have to leave,"

"Then why didn't-" ugh. "-but-"

"I don't-"

"FINE!" I slam my phone shut and shove it into my pocket. I wipe the tears from my face. I take a deep breath and open the front door. "Don't be stupid now Jack," I say to myself as I walk in.

I walk into the living room where Tina's mom is, but I don't see Nathan or Sean.

"Mrs. Adiana?" I call.

She looks up from the book she's reading, "Yes, dear?" she asks.

"Can you tell Tina I have to go? I'm sorry my - my mom called me and she w-wants me home," I finish my sentence, realizing how unsteady my voice sounds.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah I'm fine. Could you tell her please?"

She nods.

"Thanks," I open the door and I'm about to leave when I hear her.

"Wait Jake,"

I wince at the sound of her calling me that. "Yeah?" I say, not wanting to correct her.

"Do you want me to drive you home? You can't want to walk home in this snow," She offers.

"I don't live far from here. I'll be fine, ma'am. Thank you," Lie.

"Are you s-" but I leave before she can finish.

How can I be fine? My mother hates me, my little sister..., I was just sitting outside crying in the snow. But yeah I'll be_ fine_. Just like I'm _fine _every other day.

I don't live in walking distance, it took me around an hour to walk home. I open the front door and walk in. "I'm here!" Removing my shoes and hoodie I lightly whisper "are you happy you ruined my day?" But then I stop and think about what I said. No, she didn't ruin it. I did.

"Jack! Finally! What took you so long?"

"It's snowing," I said, trying not to sound annoyed at her.

"Oh, well I need to go out, I need you here to watch the house,"

What's the house gonna do? Go terrorize the town? Did she seriously take me from my friends to just 'watch the house'.

"Okay," I say. "Bye,"

She walks out the door, slamming it on the way out. I walk to the bathroom and look in the mirror. Pulling up my shirt, I look at my _fat_ stomach. No dinner for me tonight I guess. After I leave the bathroom, I clean the living room, littered with garbage. I then take a shower and change into sweat pants and a tshirt. I go to my bedroom and sit on my bed. I do my homework for about a half hour and then fall asleep, with a cup of hot chocolate in my hand.

**Do you guys like sad angsty Jack?:3 You'll be seeing more of him, so I hope you don't mind. Can I just explain a few things about Jack real quick though? I feel like after reading this chapter people will get mixed emotions about him.**

**He really is a good kid and he's not rude to adults, only his mom because he has the right reason to ( which you'll figure out later )**

**He does appreciate the things he has but he doesn't think it's fair that the best thing to him was taken away.**

**He doesn't like being alone and not having friends, but he doesn't want to open up to people so he's kinda stuck. But when he has the opportunity for people to care about him, he goes for it.**

**The way I meant to write him ( but kinda failed at it ) is he really doesn't have an opinion about anything ( like he doesn't really care, hes kinda deadpan and emotionless ) UNLESS it has to do with his mom, he hates her so he has an opinion about her, people calling him Jake :P, his little sister, or himself. Because he kinda hates himself as well, so he has an opinion about that. Does that make sense though? Ok I hope I cleared everything up on that. :) So if you have any questions or suggestions or anything please ask! Review please! Until next time, - Lizzyy :33**


	4. Best Friends

**Please don't kill me after this chapter. It's like MEGA corny, dramatic, and just plain stupid mashed up in one. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians**

The next morning was filled with snow. For the end of February, it was a lot.

"Mom! I'm going out!" I shout.

"I don't care what you do,"

With that, I leave. I walk for a good 10 minutes then turn to a neighborhood covered in snow. I pass a few houses then stop in front of a small brown house.  
"Ami!" I called.

A few seconds passed by and then a girl opened the door. "Hi Jack!" she smiled.

"Hey! So are we gonna go now?"

"I'm still in my pajamas, Jack,"

"Seriously? I didn't even notice,"

"How do you wake up this early?" she asked.

I shrug. Ha ha, no it wasn't because I had nightmares all night and couldn't sleep longer than an hour at a time.

"Well I have to get ready first!"

"Why? Pajamas are great for going outside in,"

"That's what you think! I'll only take me 10 minutes, if you don't mind waiting?"

"Yeah, it's fine, I'll wait,"

"You wanna wait inside? It's cold out here,"

"Nah,"

"Kay, be right out!" she said as she closed the door.

Ami is my best friend. Well, my only friend. I don't know if I count the others yet. She's actually from France, she moved here when she was 6. She has soft blonde curls and green eyes. She's only 13 but she's in 9th grade. Apparently she started school early. She's really mature though, gives amazing advice that adults would give. She's home schooled though, so I don't see her at school. I've known her for a long time and she knows my family pretty well. She's practically the only person that understands everything that happened to my sister and what's going on with my family.

"Okay! I am ready to go out and explore this snowy town!" she cried as she burst open the door again.

"A little cold are we?" I kid. She's wearing a snow coat, boots, a hat, a scarf, and gloves, as I'm just wearing a jacket.

"Oh be quiet. Not everyone is like you and can withstand the cold!"

I laugh. "Let's go,"

* * *

"I know! It was so funny!" she says as she laughs and we walk inside the bakery.

"I've never seen anybody do that before!" I smile.

"Alright hmm..." she stops laughing all the sudden. "Food!"

"It's only 9:30 a.m. do you really wanna get food now?" I ask

"Yes! Because _somebody_ got to my house at 8:00 in the morning on a Saturday and I didn't get to eat breakfast!"

"Oh, I wonder who that could have been?" I joke.

She shoves me playfully. "Donuts! I want a donut!" she pauses, "What do you want?"

"Oh, I'm not hungry. I had breakfast before I left" Lie.

"But Jack you're so skinny!" Ha ha yeah,_ sure._

"Just order your donut!" I say, laughing.

"I will, thank you very much!"

The door then opens and two people walk into the bakery, who I do not want to talk to.

"Are you ready to go? Can we leave now?" I blurt out once I spot them.

"What? Silly, I haven't even gotten my donut yet," Ami replies.

"Okay, okay just hurry before they se-"

"Jack?" calls Tina walking towards me.

"see me," I finish quietly as I groan.

I give a slight wave to Tina and Evan.

"Are you okay? My mom told me you had to leave because your mom called," she paused. "But I hope we didn't offend you or anything earlier when you went outside,"

"No, no. It's fine, let's go Ami,"

"Wait Jake, still don't have my donut yet! What's the rush?"

I sigh. Might as well accept the fact that they're gonna wanna find out.

"Dude, what's up wit-" started Evan but got cut off.

"Hi! I'm Ami!" she smiled.

Hey I find it kind of funny when Evan tries to ask me a question I don't want to answer, he's _always_ interrupted, makes it easier for me.

"Hi! I'm Tina, this is Evan,"

He waved.

She smiled "So how do you know Jack?" Ami asked.

"He's in our project for school, we're researching leukemia," comments Evan.

Ami freezes and looks at me, I know what she's thinking. I just nod to her, mouthing 'I'll explain later'.

"Oh. That's... cool,"

"Do you go to school with Jack? I've never seen you around before," Tina asked.

"No, I'm home schooled. I met Jack a few years ago though, he's just a really good family friend,"

"Didn't Jack just move here?" asked Tina with a confused expression on her face.

"Oh look! My donut is here! Yay!" cheered Ami.

"Kay let's go, see you later guys," I spit out.

"Bye Tina and Evan nice meeting you!" she waved and smiled as I pushed her out the door.

"That was... awkward," I heard Evan say to Tina before the door closed.

**AMI'S POV**

"Okay! Explanations?!" I ask once we get a little away from the bakery.

He sighs "Well, in healthcare Friday, we were assigned a project to research a cancer. Of course Tina had to choose leukemia, which as you know is a horrible option for me. She wanted to work on the project after school with me and 3 of her friends. I asked my mom, and she yelled at me. You know, my whole 'mom' issue. Well, unwillingly I went. It went pretty horrible because I ended up knowing way more about it then them and they asked me how I knew all that stuff. I ended up going crazy, getting really mad at myself and went outside. I felt horrible, then my mom called me and yelled at me some more. She told me I had to go home so I just told Tina's mom I was leaving. I wanted to leave the bakery so soon because I knew they'd ask me about yesterday and I really... _really_ don't want to answer,"

"Oh my..." I say

"I know, I know. I need to control my emotions more it's just so hard..." he says.

"Jack..." I say as I go in to hug him.

He continues speaking as I'm hugging him, "I'm sorry I dragged you into th-" But I interrupt him.

"Jack!" I yell as I let go of him. "What did you do to yourself!"

He gives me a very confused look.

"What did you do to yourself while you were gone! I just... I just hugged you and there's practically nothing to hug. You're the skinniest thing ever!" I yell, so annoyed. Does this toothpick not let himself eat? Why is he so skinny?

"I-I don't know what you're talking about Ami," He says as his voice shakes.

"Lift up your shirt," I command

"No... I'm good,"

"Jack!"

"No really, it's fine,"

I grab his jacket and pull it up, forgetting about the donut in my hand as it falls to the ground. Oh my gosh... his stomach. Every bone is clearly visible. There's cuts and scrapes all over it. I stare at his bare stomach for a few seconds. I rub my hand across his stomach feeling every bone that clearly sticks out. What did this boy do to himself?

"Jack..." I whisper, almost wanting to cry.

He grabs my hand that was holding up the shirt and puts it down. He stares at me with big blue eyes that show millions of emotions that I know want to burst out but stay in.

"I don't-" he pauses. "I should go,"

"No, Jake! Wait!" I grab his wrist because he started walking away.

"Ami... I'm so sorry..."

"For what?" I ask, confused.

"For... I don't know... being so stupid. You're so nice to me and I just go and make you upset,"

"Jack, what are you talking about? Whatever you're doing to yourself, please stop. I don't know what happened while you were gone but stop it. Stop. Please. You don't need to be skinny perfect. You're so much better than that. I know with Emma gone it's beyond horrible. I know with your mom acting the way she is, it's not helping one bit. And I know going back to school here is terrible trying to fit in. But you're so much better than this. Now, don't ever call yourself stupid again, okay? You're great and that's why I love you. You don't upset me. Please know that,"

He's stares at the ground and looks about to cry. He nods.

"And Jack?"

He looks up.

"Please stay strong. Please, for me," I finish.

He just stands there, looking down once again.

"Now, how's _Tina_?" I say to brighten him up.

He laughs, quietly. But the laugh sounds hollow and broken.

"Why, is someone jealous?" He finally replies.

"Pff, no. She could never compete with me," I say while flipping my hair back.

"Yeah because she totally beats you before it's even started!"

"Hey!" I say as I playfully shove him.

**CORNY STUPID DRAMATIC ALL MASHED UP INTO ONE I TOLD YOU. But anyways, Ami is suppose to be Baby Tooth. Failure right? And just so you know, there seriously is nothing between Ami & Jack. If you think there is I will stab you. Oh so very violently. :) I mean if you want there to be something sure go ahead and ship it but I personally don't like them so. The last part where Ami is bothering Jack about Tina is just a joke. It was just a way for Ami to make Jack happy again.**


	5. Water Bottles and Notebooks

**There was a bunch of questions last ch, and I'd love to answer them but I can't really answer all of them bc some of them you'll find out later. I feel like I really need to explain the school moving thing though. In the first chapter I completely messed up with the dates. So I'm just gonna put a timeline thing here to help you.**

**1/23/12 - Emma got sick**

**3/10/12 - Jack quit going to school**

**4/6/12 - Emma went to hospital**

**5/9/12 - Jack & his mom moved with uncle to be closer**

**9/2/12 - Jack started the new school year in the town where his uncle lives**

**11/22/12 - The doctors figured out Emma had leukemia **

**11/23/12 - Jack dropped out of school again**

**12/01/12 - Emma got extremely sick**

**12/05/12 - Emma died**

**1/24/13 - Jack & his mom moved back home**

**2/14/13 - Jack went back to school**

**2/22/13 - Jack met Tina & Evan/got assigned the cancer project**

**2/25/13 - Today ( in story )**

**Kay I know that's alot of dates but hopefully now you guys will understand. I'm sorry i made it so confusing. I had to change the dates in the first ch, too. I'll just answer the other ones at the end. Enjoy!**

The weekend soon ended and the snow melted along with it. Before I knew it, it was Monday morning again.

I push past the crowd of people standing in front of my 3rd period class. I walk into class when Evan and Tina spot me. They keep calling me over to their desk so I finally go over there.

"What?" I ask.

"What was all that about on Saturday?" Evan inquires.

"What was all what?"

"When you saw Evan and I you practically freaked. You kept rushing your friend Ami out, too," Tina joined in.

I set the water bottle I was holding down on Tina's desk. "I-I had somewhere to be, and when you guys came in I had just looked at the clock,"Lie. I'm not very good at lies sometimes.

"At 9:30 in the morning?" questioned Evan.

"Why do you care?"

"I just wanted to kno-"

Interrupted by the bell again. Mrs. Rally stood from her desk and yelled at us to get in our seats. My desk was three desks away from Tina and Evan's desk. They sit right beside eachother.

The lesson started and it was awfully boring. I hear some whispering and look behind me.

"Wait, I think that's Jack's water. I think he left it here when he came by my desk before class started," Tina said, as she watched Evan unscrew the top of the bottle.

"Oh," he screwed the cap back on loosely. "Hey Jack,"

"Hmm?"

"Here, catch," said Evan.

He then tossed the water bottle to me. Although there were two flaws with that plan. He did not throw it far enough and the cap wasn't on all the way. Before I knew it, the sleeping kid behind me was soaking wet.

"oops," I hear Evan say in a whisper.

"WHO'S WATER BOTTLE WAS THAT?!"

I keep quiet.

"WHO'S WATER BOTTLE WAS THAT?!" screamed the kid, making Mrs. Rally stop teaching to figure out what was going on.

"What's wrong Lo-" Seeing him, she paused. "What happened to you?"

"SOME RETARTED KID THREW HIS WATER BOTTLE AT ME. WHO'S WAS THAT?!" He yelled again.

"Now class, why would you try to get Logan wet? Now, who was that? Come up here right now. Who's water was that?"

"I-it was m-mine..." I say with a shaky voice.

"Jake! Detention! You're always late to class and now you throw water at people? I have to talk to you after school,"

I guess I shouldn't be thinking about this right now but coincidentally, isn't that kinda what my other teacher Mrs. Mellingham told me?

And yes, because I know so many kids that love purposefully throwing water at other kids.

"But I didn-" I start but I'm cut off.

"YOU LITTLE TOOTHPICK. YOU'LL PAY!" yelled Logan.

"Now, I know you're mad Logan but don't say that. You can go to the bathroom and ...clean up. And Jake,"

"It's Jack,"

"What?"

"My name, it's Jack, not Jake. Just thought I should tell you..."

"Are you talking back to me?"

"No I was just-"

"Do you want another detention?"

"No ma'am..."

"Detention!"

"I wasn't even talking-"

"Jake! I expect there to be no more of this behavior from you!"

Facepalm.

"Now that Jake has finished insulting everyone in the classroom," I didn't insult anyone did I?! "We will continue our lesson,"

I look over to Evan's desk once Mrs. Rally started teaching again he looks like he doesn't feel the slightest bit bad. Whatever.

* * *

"Why'd you throw that water bottle at Logan? He's going to be so mad at you," a girl asked me as she walked by. The 5th time I've been told that in the last 10 minutes.

"I didn't-" I start off but she's already gone.

I'm sitting against a tree with my homework in my lap and a granola bar in my hand. We can eat lunch inside or outside. Most of the kids are inside now because it's too cold for them. But I like sitting outside much better. Outside, I don't get shoved and called names like I do when I eat with everyone else. I really like the cold, too.

I take a bite of my granola bar, the only thing I ate today, and start my biology homework. A few minutes pass by and then I can see someone standing in front of me. I look up from my book.

"Oh, hey..."

The boy standing makes a motion for me to come inside.

"No thanks Sean. I'm good out here,"

He makes a few movements that I don't understand.

"What?"

He continues demonstrating things.

"Why don't you just say it?" I ask.

He points to his mouth and then he makes a X with his arms.

"What? You don't talk?"

He nods.

"Oh, I really didn't know. I'm sorry. Guess I didn't really even pay attention when we were at Tina's house,"

He makes a thumbs up.

"Jake!" I hear someone call. "Jake! Jake Sifer!"

"I think they're calling me," I say. "Be right back sorry," as I set my homework and half eaten granola bar on the grass.

**-Jack is NOT present here-**

Sean sits down on the grass and takes Jack's notebook. Flipping through the pages, he laughs at the doodles Jack drew. There's a cat riding on the back of an owl. There's a drawing of super hero, and labeled above it 'Jack'. He flips a few more pages then stops. The page is filled with words, some in ink and some in pencil. Sandy skims through the words.

underlined is pen/_italicized is pencil_

_How are you?_

**tummy hurts**

_ Its okay_

**i wanna go home can i **

_I want you to come home too you will soon don't worry. You will be coming home really soon and we can play outside and do whatever you want. You just have to stay strong and make it through this ok?_

**but i dont like the haspital**

_I know im sorry_

**wheres mommy**

_she couldnt be here right now_

**does she get mad at u like befor**

_don't worry about me. Im fine emma. you just need to get better ok?_

**you have to go**

_looks like it_

**wil again**

_i promise_

Sean keeps staring at the page until he finally goes to the next. There's a picture taped to the paper. It's a picture of a blonde haired little girl lying in a hospital bed with a big bright smile although her face is sickly pale. Next to her is Jack. He's smiling but it looks like he wants to start crying. Written underneath the picture is the date labeled 11/22/13. Sean flips to the next page and the same girl is in the picture, although this time she looks healthy. She's holding a flower out. He flips through the next pages and it goes back to school notes. Sean was about to stop turning the page and put the book down until he saw a lose page that was folded into the notebook. He grabbed the note and opened it. It was in a messy-but-readable handwriting. He started to read it but he heard something. He folded the note back up and shoved it in his pocket. He then scrambled through the notebook to go back to the page of Jack's biology homework.

**-Jack's POV-**

Apparently Mrs. Rally told the principle I threw water on Logan in biology and I had to just go meet with him! He wouldn't even let me explain what happened. Apparently I have to stay after school everday this week til 4:00 to serve for my 'improper behavior'.

I walk up back to where I was sitting and Sean is still there. He's sitting on the floor though. When I walk up to him he just stares at me. I guess that's his way of asking what did they want?

"It's nothing," I say as I put my notebook away in my backpack.

But then the bell rings telling us lunch is over. 4th period with Evan and Tina, here we go...

"Well, I guess we gotta get to Mr. Marvin's class,"

He nods.

"Okay, well I'll see you in healthcare then," I say, grabbing the half eaten granola bar and tossing it in the trash.

He grabs onto my shirt and I turn around.

"What?"

He makes a movement as if saying 'lets just walk there together'.

"Um, you don't have to,"

He pushes me forward to start walking.

"Okay," I groan.

On our way to health class, I am shoved into a locker, called a nerd and freak, tripped, kicked in the leg.

After I was called a nerd Sean tried to stop them but he's too small to be of much help. They didn't pick on him though.

Once all of the bullies leave, Sean just stares at me. His face is blank but yet shows concern at the same time.

"People are just extra mad today?" I say. Ughh. _This_ is why I didn't want him to come with me.

We get to class and I sit down in my seat. I feel light headed. My stomach hurts from the lack of food.

"Okay class," Mr. Marvin says once the bell rings. "I hope some of you worked on your project this weekend. Today we will just be working on the projects again. You will only get 3 more days of in-class time to work on it. It won't be in a row either. Tomorrow we will be doing something different. So if you have any questions about the projects they need to be asked now. You may start,"

Tina and Evan come over to my desk.

"I didn't bring the posterboard today," Tina confesses "I didn't think we'd be working on-"

"It's fine," I say, wanting her to stop talking.

"Hey Jack, I just wanted to say I'm sorry about earlier with the water bottle I-"

"It doesn't matter," I groan as I slam my head on my desk. _UGHHHHH._

**Someone asked if "Jake" had to do with Jack moving. It doesn't really. They'll be a tiny explanation why people think it's Jake later but it doesn't have to much with the storyline. Also to a diff girl, she asked if I got Jack's eating disorders from her ROTG story. No, I didn't. I've never read it before. I got the eating disorder idea because I had to study anorexia in health class the other day...****until next time - Lizzyy :33**


	6. Jake or Jack?

**So you guys know how the first chapter of this was for my lit class? Well I got the grade back on it. I got a 95, an A. :) We were suppose to list all these terms in it and I put two antagonists ( Them being Eric and the leukemia ) but apparently I was only suppose to list one so I got 5 points taken off. Oh well, still happy with the grade! **

"What's up with you?" Evan asks as my head is still lying on top of my desk.

Why does he always ask so many questions

I groan.

"Jack?" Tina asked.

"Head..."

"What?"

"Hurts,"

"Are you okay?"

"Stomach,"

"Maybe..."

I put my hands over my ears groaning again.

"Maybe you should go to the nurse Jack,"

"No. Can't,"

"Why not?"

"Stomach hurts. She'd ask questions,"

"Wait what?"

"Jack just go to the nurse!" said Evan.

"I-" I pause. "Food. Do you have any?"

"Um, I think I have some crackers in my bag," commented Tooth.

"We just had lunch, why are you hungry?" questioned Evan.

"Can I have..." I zone out for a few seconds. "Can I have th-them?"

No, Jack. You _can't_ eat.

Yes I can. I only had an apple yesterday and today half a granola bar.

"Yeah let me get em," she said as she went back to her desk and dug through her bag. She walked back to my desk with a small box of crackers. "Here you go," she said handing them to me.

Don't take it

Just eat it. You can't even think right now, you need food. Just eat it.

I take the box and open it. I slowly take a bite of the cracker.

"Ughh," I say, groaning.

"What is your problem?" Evan asked.

I squeeze my eyes shut as my head throbs.

I eat three more crackers and my head stops spinning.

"Thanks Tina," I said, handing the box back to her.

"No problem. But what was that about?"

"I-um- please just forget it. Let's just work on the project,"

"Did you not hear what Tooth said? We can't. We don't have the posterboard," groaned Evan.

"We can still work on it without it,"

"We don't have the encyclopedias so we can't look up anything,"

"I know more some stuff about it," I comment.

Tina and Evan look at each other, but then look away.

"Okay, well what do you know about it?" asks Tina.

"Well..." For the next half hour I tell them everything I know about leukemia. While I speak, Tina writes down everything that she thinks we can use on our poster.

"How do you know all that?" Evan asks, once I finish.

"Uh- relative... had leukemia,"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tooth says.

"It's fine. I-" I stop. A burst of pain shoots through my body again and I slam my eyes shut once again.

"You okay Jack?"

I shake my head.

"You really need to go to the nurse, or call someone to pick you up,"

"Only a half hour left of-school. I-cant. I-I need to stay after for... for... for de-detention," I say as my voice shakes.

"Come on we're going to the nurse right now," Evan says.

Tooth calls out. "Mr. Marvin? Jack feels really bad. Can Evan and I take him to the nurse?"

He nods.

"Come on Jack, get up," Evan commands.

I don't move.

"Come on!"

I slowly release my grasp from my chair. "I don't want-"

"-I don't care if you don't want to. You look like you're about to throw up. You're going to the nurse,"

Realizing he's not going to give in, I slowly get up.

The walk to the nurse's office was slow and awful with pain shooting through my whole body with every step I took.

"Hey, um, Jack feels really bad. He can't get picked up from school but we don't know what's wrong with him," Tooth says once we reach the nurse's office.

She looks at me for a second and then tells me to sit down, which I'm very grateful for. My legs feel like they'll give way any second.

"You don't know what's wrong?" The lady asks

Well, I do. But I'm not telling her.

I shake my head.

She feels my forehead. No fever.

She asks me if my throat hurts. I shake my head. She asks me a number of questions until she finally asks the question I've been dreading.

"What have you eaten today?"

I look across the room. Evan and Tooth are both still standing there, listening to everything.

"A granola bar and..." Should I lie? I can't tell her I've only eaten a granola bar and crackers. Not with both Evan and Tina standing there. I glance over to them once again. The nurse notices this and I guess she got the idea. She asked them to go back to class.

"Can't we stay?" asked Evan.

"You need to go back to class," she repeated.

They exit the room and then the attention is back on me.

"What have you eaten today?" She asks, again.

"Half-half a granola bar and like four crackers..."

"You need to eat more than that to have energy to make it through the day," She says.

I stay quiet.

"What did you eat yesterday?"

The room remains quiet for a few seconds and then I answer. "An apple,"

"Is that it?"

I nod.

She thinks. "Do you mind if I see how much you weigh?"

"I-I'd rather not,"

"What's your name?"

"Jack,"

"Is that normally how much you eat?"

I keep quiet.

"What's your full name, dear? I'm going to look you up in the school system,"

"I-I don't really know what my mom registered me under,"

"Well what do you call yourself?"

"Jack Overland Frost,"

"Okay, hang on let me look you up,"

She sits there infront of her computer screen typing and then she replies,"

"Jake Overland Frost Sifer?"

Really. So my mom DID put me in as _Jake_ Overland Frost Sifer?

"I guess,"

"It says you transferred here about two weeks ago?"

I nod.

"You don't have anything listed here for illnesses, disorders, etc. And it says your not taking any extra medications, is that correct?"

Not really.

"Sure,"

"It says that your guardian won't let me give you any painkillers or anything. I'm sorry. Can I just call your guardian to come pick you up?"

"I- I have to stay for detention after school,"

"Well you're going to have to make it up some other time. I can't allow you to stay at school like this,"

"But there's only like 15 minutes left and then I'd only have to stay for detention,"

"How long is your detention for?"

I guess there's no point in lying to her. "Four,"

"I can't let you stay that long. You need to be home resting. I'm going to call your guardian listed on here. Who is it?"

"My mom,"

"Okay," She takes the phone from her desk and dials a number.

"Hello? Are you the guardian of Jake Sifer?"

I can hear the voice on the other side.

/italicized is Jack's mom/

_"His name is Jack,"_

"Oh sorry,"

_"What do you want?"  
_

"Well, he's feeling really bad. I can't allow him to stay the rest of the day. Can you pick him up?"

_"Wow. Just give the brat a bunch of pain killers,"_

"Ma'am, you put down that you don't want me to give him any medicine,"

_"Just give it to him. I just said you could!"_

"I'm not allowed to just do that, I'm sorry. Can you pick your son up?"

_"He'll survive, I'm busy!"_

"With all due respect ma'am, I am a nurse and I don't think that'd be good for him. He's really bad right now,"

_"FINE ILL PICK PEST!"_

The nurse flinches.

"Thank you ma'am,"

_"I'll be there in 5 minutes!"_

The nurse hangs up the phone and then turns to me.

"Your mom said she'll be here in about 5 minutes,"

I nod.

"I don't have any food but would you like some water? It'd be good for you,"

I nod again.

By the time the nurse got me a cup of water my mom walked into the nurse's office.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with him," My mom said when she was in the room.

"Oh, no it was fine. I just hope he feels better,"

"Let's go Jack,"

I slowly stand up from the chair and my head starts throbbing again. I fall back on the chair.

* * *

"You're only causing problems Jack!" yelled my mother as she pulls out of the school.

I just curl up in my seat.

"You made me leave my job interview to pick you up from school because 'you don't feel well',"

"I'm sorry..." I whisper.

"You should be! You ungrateful brat,"

That hurt, being said by my own mom. It hurt more than the throbbing in my head and the twisting in my stomach. I just curl tighter to my seat.

It seemed like forever but finally we pull up to our house. If it was cleaned up properly, it would be a very nice house. But all the family problems going on right now, we have ignored it.

I eat an apple then I very slowly walk up the stairs to my room. Once inside, I shuffle through the bag to find my notebook I was doing my biology homework in earlier. I lie down on my bed and open the worn notebook. I flip through the pages, looking for something. I flip through each page in the book and then again but I can't find it. Where is that loose paper I put in there? I get off my bed again, ignoring the pain my head, and look in the bottom of my bag. It's not in there either. Where is it? Wait- did I leave it where I was eating lunch? Did it fall out of my book when I set it down? I hope not. I can't have someone read that paper.

"Jack! I'm leaving!" yelled my mom.

I throw myself back onto my bed flipping through the notebook pages once again. I pause on a picture of Emma, she's holding out a flower. She had blonde curly hair-unlike me. She pretty much looked like a mini version of my mom. Same hair, same brown eyes and same tan skin. Emma only lost her tan when she became sick. Sometimes when my mom, Emma, and I were all out together in public people asked if I was related to them. They'd always think I'm just a friend since I looked nothing like them. Not with my pale skin, blue eyes and white hair. Actually, now that I think about it _why_ do I look like this? I look nothing like Emma or my mom. I close the notebook. All the relatives I've seen all have brown or blonde hair, tan skin and brown eyes. So where do I get this from? Maybe my dad? I haven't seen him very much. I remember when I was really young I saw him a lot. But the last time I saw him was when Emma was born and I don't remember him well enough. We never visit relatives from his side of the family, either. There are no pictures of him hung up in the house. Okay, there must be a picture of him somewhere. Now that I keep thinking about this I really want to figure out. Maybe-Maybe my mom has a picture of him somewhere? I could look in her room now... my stomach still hurts though. My headache for the most part went away. Maybe we have some medicine I can take... I push myself off my bed. Once downstairs, I go to the bathroom and dig through the medicine cabinet. I don't know what to take. I mean I know why I feel like this-from the lack of food- but I can't eat. I already ate an apple I shouldn't of eaten. I don't want to take the wrong medicine. I end up just taking two painkillers. Would of been nice if I could of taken those at the nurse's.

Should I try to find a picture of my dad? My mom wouldn't be happy if I dug around in her stuff but I really want to know what he looks like. I decide yes. I walk into my mom's bedroom. The room's a little messy but not very bad. I've been in her room many times before so I know there isn't a picture hanging up in plain sight of my dad. But maybe in a drawer somewhere? I know my dad's name is Dan Frost. But that's basically all I know about him. We never called him or wrote to him. I open a few drawers but they only hold clothes. I opened a box sitting on the floor. It's filled with papers. I take a few of the papers out and read them. Emma's medical bills. I place them back in the box and close it. I look around her room about an hour and I'm about to give up. I open her closest once again and spot a box on the shelf. I take it down, place it on the floor and open it up. There are two books in it. One is labeled 'Emma' and the other 'Jack'. I open the one labeled with my sister's name and realize it's a photo album. It's filled with pictures of her. It starts with her in the hospital when she was born. My mom is holding her and I'm standing next to her. There is another figure beside us but the light is shining on his face I can't see it. I flip to the next pages and the pictures continue showing her getting older. A picture of her 2nd birthday, a day when we played in the pool outside our house, a picture of me reading to her, and more. The last picture in the album is her when she's 6 on her birthday. No wonder there are no more. She got sick around then. My mom wouldn't want to put pictures of a sick girl in the album. I close the photo album and take the one labeled 'Jack' out. I open it up expecting there to be so many of my memories in it. I was wrong. There is one photo. _One_. I'm in the picture and I look about 3. I can tell I'm at some sort of amusement park because there are all sorts of rides behind me. I'm on shoulders of a man. He's tall. He looks young, maybe only 25? He has a sandy colored hair and blue eyes. He has a big smile. Is that man my dad? How could he be? He has almost blonde hair, like everyone else in my family. No, he's not my dad. He's probably just another relative from my mom's side. Sighing, I close the book and place it back in the box. I put the box back on the shelf it was on and close the closet.

I take a long, long cold shower

"So much for finding out how my dad looks," I said out loud and fall asleep on my bed.

* * *

I wake up from my alarm going off. I turn it off and groan. My head hurts again. My stomach felt like it was eating itself and it kept me awake half of the night.

"Do I have to go to school today?" I ask myself.

"Ugh. Of course I do. My mom won't want to deal with me all day and I have detention to make up for," I answer myself.

With all the energy I have, I push myself off my bed. I slowly walk to my closet and dig through my clothes. I find a black t-shirt and a pair of faded jeans. I slide on a pair of black and red vans. Then I drag myself to the bathroom. Ugh. I have big black under eye circles from my lack of sleep last night. I ruffle my white hair up. When I did, I noticed a few bruises on my arm from yesterday when I got shoved into the lockers. I need to remember to wear a hoodie all day. I brush my teeth and put on a black hoodie. I slowly walk down the stairs because my stomach hurts to move too fast. My mom isn't awake yet. No surprise. I think about not eating breakfast again today but I decide against it. I don't want to go to the nurse's again. I eat a single slice of bread. Then I put an orange and trail mix in my backpack for lunch. I grab backpack and leave the house.

Normally my mom does drive me to school. But she wasn't awake this morning and she probably didn't care. Especially since she had to come pick me up from school early yesterday. Most days I only have to walk home after school. Today I really wish she drove me though. It's really cold outside and today I seem to mind. My stomach hurts with every move I make. I sigh. It took me 30 minutes to walk to school. I really only live about a 15 minute walk away but today went slow since its so much harder to walk. I look at the time on my phone. 7:40, 10 minutes until school starts. I walk to my locker and look through it for that piece of paper that is missing from my notebook. It's not there. Maybe I should ask Sean if he's seen it. He might of saw it on the ground when I was eating yesterday. I'll ask him if I see him. Then the warning bell rang signalling to go to classes, two minutes until it starts. I walk to my math class. I really hate having math first thing in the morning. I walk in right before the bell rings. Yes, thank you! No tardy this morning! But then my happiness fades when I remember I have this class with Evan. He's gonna ask about yesterday...


	7. Evan

**I decided to switch to third person because I felt it was easier to write this chapter in 3rd person. I'd kinda like to continue writing the rest of the story in 3rd person but if you guys like 1st I'll switch back. Also, some of you may of seen I uploaded a chapter of this a few days ago called 'Bruises', well yeah I deleted it because I realized it was totally unrealistic and completely messed up. So for any of you who read that, this chapter IS different so you must read this and just forget about that chapter... does that make sense?**

**P.S. Happy St. Patrick's day! Are y'all wearing green? I am! :) **

"Jack!" Evan whispered in math class.

Jack looked over at Evan with his tired eyes.

"Are you okay after yesterday?"

Jack nods.

"What happened?"

"My mom picked me up yesterday after you guys left," Jack said blankly.

"Why did the nurse make us leave?"

Jack shrugged. He knew, he just didn't want to tell.

"Are you coming to my house after school to work on the cancer project?"

"Yeah,"

* * *

"He said he'd be here," complained Tina.

"Yeah. He told me in math, too," Evan joined in.

"We should go ahead and start working on the projects. We can't get behind,"

"Nathan's right," Evan said. "Snowball head will just have to help later,"

Tina glanced up at the clock. They'd been waiting for a little over 30 minutes now.

"Guys! I'm sorry!" exclaimed Jack as he shoved the door open.

Once they saw Jack, Evan asked, "What took so long?"

"Mrs. Rall-" He paused trying to catch his breath. "Mrs. Rally made me stay for detention I missed yesterday,"

"Oh, okay. That's fine," said Tina. "We actually haven't even started yet,"

Jack's face fell a bit and he gulped. Although no one seemed to notice.

"Ha-okay. Let's start then,"

**A few minutes later**

"What's up, Sean?" asked Jack.

Sean dug through his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper.

"What's tha-" Jack paused. "Is that... how'd you get that?"

Sean was about to sign something before Jack interrupted.

"You didn't read it did you?" He exclaimed and quickly snatched the paper from Sean.

"What's going on?" Evan asked as he walked towards Jack from where him and Tooth were working on the project.

"Where'd you get that, Sean?" questioned Jack.

Sean signed something, unreadable to Jack.

"What did he say?" asked Jack.

Sandy signed it again.

"He said 'I found it'" Evan interpreted.

"Where? Did you read it?" Jack frantically asked as he ran a hand through his snow white hair.

Sean signed.

"No," Evan said, reading what Sean signed.

"What is that Jack?" questioned Nathan, walking towards the group, motioning to the paper in Jack's hand.

Jack's face fell again and this time it _was_ noticed. "N-nothing, it's it's just..."

Evan ignored it. "What are you hiding from us?"

"Nothing, it's personal... it's _mine_,"

Evan eyed Jack suspiciously as Jack shoved the paper into his backpack.

"Forget it," Jack sighed. "Can we just finish this project?"

"I'll figure it out," quietly whispered Evan as he walked back to the diligently working Tina.

* * *

**18 days later ( I think that's correct )**

"Hey Jake!" A kid behind Jack said.

"White haired kid, Jake!" they called again.

Jack turned around.

"You look extra freakish today," The kid said.

Jack turned back around and continued to walk.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" He yelled at Jack.

A few more kids followed behind Jack and Jack sped up his walk.

"What, are you _scared_?" said the first kid.

Before he knew it they surrounded him, making a circle. One kid shoved Jack into the wall like the other day and his backpack fell off.

"You're such a weak dork,"

"Leave me alone," yelled Jack

"Why would we do that? You're just make this so easy,"

He pulled Jack's hair.

"Logan is our friend. And I'm sure you know why we'd be mad at you then,"

Jack mentally facepalmed himself.

"He asked us to get back at you for him,"

"You're so dumb. You think you can just come in and mess with one of the coolest kids in school after not even being here for a month?"

"Everybody knows your white hair is fake," said another as he spat on Jack.

"You're pathetic," chimed in another boy.

"Look! The dork thinks he can fight back!" yelled a kid pushing Jack to the floor.

Then the warning bell rang and they all scattered.

A terrible throb ran through Jack's head. He finally shifted his body into a sitting position and then pushed himself off the ground. He fell right back down on the floor. A burst of pain shot through his body. He groaned.

"Jack, come on. You need to get up," He said to himself.

He placed each hand on the sides of himself and pushed up again. Jack stood up, legs shaking. He slowly moved his leg to take a step. Down to the floor he fell again.

"You're so pathetic. Just like they said. You can't even stand up," He said, angry at himself.

He waited for a few seconds, then tried again.

"Kay, Jack. You have to actually get up now,"

He gently pushed up from his hands again and stood up.

"Okay, okay. Now don't fall,"

He took a few steps.

He reached down to pick up his bag and slung it on his back.

"Jack!" someone ran up to Jack and grabbed him by the shoulder. Jack flinched back, thinking it's one of Logan's friends again. It was just Tina.

"Whoa, Jack. Are you okay?"

He nods.

"Are you sure about that? You don't look very good,"

"I'm-I'm fine,"

"Okay, well I'm so excited!"

He looked at her with a questioning look.

"We have next week off, don't you know?"

"Oh-yeah. Why do we have it off again?"

"It's the week of the Winter Burgess Festival! It's a festival for a few days for the ending of winter! Most festivals for the end of winter are spring themed, but since here in Burgess we seem to love winter, ours is winter themed to celebrate the last few days of winter we have,"

"Oh, so we have off school all week long?"

"Mm-hmm! It's only a three day festival but it takes so long to set up and take down they close school for it too! They turn on snow machines all around town. You can go sledding, skiing, anything. They sell so many yummy foods. Oh like hot chocolate! People set up booths of things they want to sell, too! Evan, Sean, Nathan and I were all going to go together. You should come with us!"

"Uh-... well my mom and all. Always wanting me to do stuff. But maybe,"

"Okay great! Well, let's get to class! We're presenting our project today!" smiled Tina as she ran off to her classroom.

Jack sighed, but soon followed.

* * *

"You guys ready?" asked Evan.

"Not really..." Jack swallowed, **hard**. It was one thing studying about the thing that killed your sister, but teaching it to other people was another.

"Evan, your group may come up now," Mr. Marvin called

Evan nodded.

"It'll be fine," Tina whispered to Jack as they got up.

"So Tina, Jack, and I did leukemia," started Evan. "The ancient Greeks are the ones who recognized it as being a cancer in the 4th century B.C.E.,"

Evan went on about the history of the cancer. Then Tina read the diagnose process off the board. Then it was Jack's turn.

"S-so the effects and symptoms of leukemia are..." He continued, trying his hardest to not make his voice shake. In his mind, minutes took years.

"Some people say there is a cure for - for it but but there isn't. It'll eventually kill the per-," He stopped.

A few moments passed with nothing being said, so Mr. Marvin decided they were done. "Thank you very much. You may sit down now,"

"May-may I go to the bathroom?" questioned Jack.

Mr. Marvin nodded.

Still shaking, Jack ran out of the classroom.  
"Is he okay?" Tina turned to Evan.

"I don't know," Evan stood up. "Mr. Marvin can I go, too?"

He nodded again.

"I'll check. Be right back,"

Before she knew it, Evan was gone.

"Jack? You okay?"

"Jack?" Evan continued walking down the hallway until he got to the bathroom.

He looked into the bathroom to see Jack sitting on the floor, his knees up and head resting on them.

"I'm sorry, Emma," He kept repeating, quietly.

"Jack?"

"Why are you sitting on the bathroom floor? We just presented our project and Mr. Marvin said it was great. But you're sitting on the bathroom floor?"

Jack continued mumbling, not noticing Evan.

"Dude, what's your problem?" He said as he walked to where he was standing right above Jack.

Ignored.

"What are you mumbling?"

"I'm just gonna leave if you ignore me," Evan squat down on the floor.

Jack lifted his head off his knees. "Oh- uh... Evan... where'd you come from?"

"I've been here the whole time?"

"Oh..."

"What's your problem?"

"Huh?"

"Every time I mentioned our project you seemed kinda sad. I see you randomly staring at the wall sometimes and you never wanna hang out with us after school. Or when you do, you leave randomly,"

"I don't know what you're tal-"

"Oh, don't use that! The others have noticed it, too,"

He sighed.

A few moments passed with no words, until Evan disrupted it.

"What was that paper Sean had awhile ago when we were at my house?"

"What-oh. Nothing," He mumbled.

"It was obviously _something_,"

Jack stayed quiet.

"Okay, well can you tell me why you're sitting on the bathroom floor and what you were mumbling when I walked in?"

He stayed quiet.

Evan grew frustrated.

"Do you not want people to actually care about you? Because everytime someone tries to help you just block them out,"

Jack didn't say anything for a bit and Evan was about to leave.

"My life is messed up...,"

"Care to tell me?"

He shook his head. "It's... really... really complicated..."

"Well you can't stay like this. I'm really sick of this,"

Jack nodded.

"Let's go,"

Jack slowly stood up but fell back down with a loud thump.

Evan spun around. "What?"

"It's fine,"

Jack pushed himself back up, this time more carefully. He winced but he didn't fall down again.

"What's wrong, _again_?"

"It's nothing,"

"Every time you don't want to answer a question you just say 'it's nothing'. You've said that to practically every question I've asked and I still haven't gotten an answer. And you're obviously not fine since you can hardly stand up. Now what's wrong?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know, I just don't feel good. I feel weak, but not in the way I can't lift something heavy. Just that it's so hard to move and stuff..." He paused but then quickly added on "I'm fine though. I'm fine,"

"Why do you feel like that?"

Jack groaned. "I... may of been pushed... into the wall... and um... some other stuff," He finished, quietly.

"What? By who?"

"Logan's friends..."

"Ugh, that whole water bottle thing was so stupid,"

Jack nodded.

Evan didn't want to continue talking about it though, because inside he knew it actually was his fault.

"So since we got one question sort-of down, can you at least answer why you seem to hate this project we worked on? I mean, you're Jack Frost, not really known for doing your work but I mean you seemed to hate this,"

"Jack Sifer,"

"What?"

"My name. You said Jack Frost. It's Jack Overland Frost Sifer, or honestly I don't even know. Jack Overland Sifer Frost? Something... I just know what you said was wrong,"

"Oh, thanks," Evan said sarcastically.

"Yup..."

"You didn't answer my question,"

"What?"

"You ignored my question, you deliberately got off subject,"

"Oh,"

"So are you gonna answer it?"

"What was the question again?"

He glared at Jack. "Forget it,"

"Okay..."

"Let's go,"

They were quiet when the walked out of the bathroom but once in the halls Evan continued talking.

"Hey so are you going to the Burgess Winter Festival?" asked Evan as they walked back to class.

"I don't know, Tina wants me to go,"

"You should go,"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because from what I can see, you only have one friend besides us, no offense,"

"Some taken,"

"Anyways, you need more. And you need to actually do more with us then stare at the wall as everyone else talks or working on a project about cancer,"

"So wait, you're saying I need to go to the festival because I like to stare at walls?" Jack laughed lightly.

"Yeah, whatever," Evan said annoyed.

* * *

"Jack!" called Nathan once then bell rang.

"Yeah?"

"We're going out for ice-cream tomorrow, you wanna come?"

"I don't know if I-"

"Ice-cream relieves stress, and you are very stressed. You should come,"

"I'll... ask?"

"Good,"

"Yup..."

"Ok,"

"K..."

"...Well, I'm gonna go, bye,"

"Uh... okay?"

When Nathan left, Jack grabbed his backpack and slung it on his back. He was about to exit the school when he felt his phone vibrate.

He flipped the phone open. "Hey Ami,"

"Am I going to the festival? Maybe,"

"No, no, I'm fine. You worry too much,"

"Mmkay,"

"Alright, I'll let you know if I decide I'm going,"

"Okay, bye,"

He closed his phone and shoved it into his hoodie pocket.

* * *

"No, mom, I didn't skip school today. It's Saturday,"

"I don't care,"

"But you just asked if I skipp- nevermind,"

There was a pause.

"Hey mom?

"What?" she spat.

"Can I- Can I- May I go to the Burgess Winter Festival this week with Ami and some other friends?"

"Do I know the other friends?"

"No ma'am I don't think you do but-"

"They're bad,"

"What? How does that even make sense?" Jack quietly asked himself. "Mom, I've hung out with so many times before,"

"Why are you going to skip school to go to the festival?"

"School is closed next week,"

"So you're going to be selfish and spend it hanging out with your friends instead of helping your mom?"

"I can help you if-"

"I don't want you going to the festival,"

"Why not?"

"I don't want you hanging out with your friends, I don't know them!"

"But I've already gone to their houses and hung out with them so many times and you said I could before!"

"I don't want you hanging out with Ami either,"

"What?! Why not?! You know Ami and you know she's not bad!"

"I'm your mother, you have to listen to what I say. I'm doing what will help you,"

"So you're going to leave me here all week with you doing nothing? How is that suppose to help me?"

"So now spending time with your mom is bad?"

"Well, yeah! Ever since you decided you wanted to ignore me!"

She slapped Jack across the face. "How dare you say that!" She yelled. "Give me an example of what I've done that's so bad!"

"When Emma was born? What you did then? I was only 7 mom!"

"That's because you're a selfish b-"

"I was 7 mom! You can't hold things against me when I was 7 years old,"

"This is all your fault"

He groans. "What is?"

"Everything!"

"Just stop,"

"This is all your fault. You're the reason she died,"

"Mom..."

"You're so selfish. You don't care about anybody. If it wasn't for you then my little girl would be here right now,"

"Like I don't miss her too? Mom please just... stop..." Jack said, almost in tears.

"It's Ami!"

"What?"

"She made you this, this _thing_ you are now,"

"What? We've known her family for years!"

"It's her!"

"MOM. You used to be best friends with her mom! I don't know what you're talking about,"

"You can't hang out with her again,"

"I don't understand..."

"Of course you don't. You're just a selfish brat who doesn't care about anybody but themselves,"

Jack slammed the door shut with tears stinging his eyes.

The wind blew hard and rustled his hair but he ignored it. He just wanted to get as far away from his mom right now as possible. He walked up the street from his house and continued walking not looking where he was going. Before he knew it, he was in the middle of the town. He wondered in and out of stores scattered about the town when he finally felt his anger from his conversation with his mom, go away. He had been gone for almost an hour. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a figure moving. He turned around and looked. It's Tina and them. Probably getting their ice-cream now, he guessed. He debated on joining them but he ended up opposing it. He didn't want to admit it, but he had been crying from what his mom said. His eyes were probably red and he didn't want to see anyone he knew. His cheek was starting to hurt from where his mom slapped him. He sat down on a nearby bench with his hood up, not realizing it was the bench right outside the ice-cream shop.

"Jack?" a voice said.

He looked up to see Nathan, Evan, Sean and Tina all standing there.

He groaned inside. "Oh... hey,"

"So you decided to come!" smiled Nathan.

"Something like that..." He figured it'd be better to just say he came. Rather then getting in a fight with his mom. Then trying to not be seen by his friends but sitting on the bench right by the ice-cream parlor. That would just make him seem stupid.

"You invited Snowball head?" questioned Evan.

Nathan nods.

"You really should think of a better name for Jack then that, Evan!" said Tina.

"Let's just get some ice-cream!" Nathan exclaimed.

Jack slowly stood up from where he was sitting, hood still up. He didn't know if his eyes were red from crying and he didn't want the others to see. They walked into the ice-cream parlor and were greeted by a big man.

"Ahh! Nathan, Evan, Tina, Sean! Nice to see you!"

"You too Mr. Gustavo," smiled Tina.

"Oh, who are you?" He said, directing his question towards Jack.

"Jack," he said, trying to sound happy.

"Well come! Pick out your ice-cream! They're half off today!"

The others ran up to shelf where the ice-creams were displayed and tried to figure out which one they wanted.

Noticing Jack didn't follow the others, Mr. Gustavo came up to him. "Jack, don't you want any?"

Jack shook his head.

Evan heard them and he turned around. "We came to get icecream, and you don't want any? So what exactly are we doing here if we don't get ice-cream?"

Jack didn't say anything for a moment. "Well... I-..." He stuttered. "I... don't have any money to pay for it," It was a lie, but also the truth. Jack didn't have any money on him, he left his house suddenly so he didn't bring any. But that's not why he didn't want to get any ice-cream.

"Nathan was going to pay for everyone. He's the one that invited us all. He invited you, didn't he?"

Jack nodded.

"So go get some ice-cream?"

Jack sighed and went over with the others.

"Is your friend okay?" Mr. Gustavo asked once Jack was out of hearing range.

"I don't know, he's never been really energetic since we met him but just recently he's been... like that,"

"He shook his head when I asked him if he wanted any ice-cream. When he did it, I thought I could see his face was a little red. Almost like he was just crying,"

Evan stood there for a bit, confused.

"Well, just enjoy your ice-cream for now," Mr. Gustavo said as he smiled and went to go dish out the ice-cream for the others.

**I kinda wanted to write the presentation of their project a little bit different. But I thought that if I actually had them present it you guys might die of boredom from random facts about Leukemia. Plus I really didn't wanna look up facts about leukemia so... I'm sorry if the presentation didn't go as you had hoped... *I actually had read that the Greeks were the first to figure out it was a disease or something though so...***

**Hey a little fact here, although I didn't do research I should of done on leukemia, I DID do research on the festival. I heard Burgess is suppose to be in Pennsylvania. So there's actually a festival thing called Bendigo Snow Festival. People do all sorts of winter activities and they sell hot chocolate and hotdogs. That's what the website said :) So I put that in there, aren't you guys proud of me for actually doing some research?**

**Hey look this chapter is like 3,500 words... Until next time, -Lizzy:33**


	8. Winter Festival Part 1

**I don't own Rise of the Guardians**

Jack opened up his front door at 10:30 p.m.

"I just have to get to my room and lock my door, then I won't have to talk to her..." He said to himself.

He slid in the door and down the hall to where his bedroom was. He opened the door to his bedroom and what he saw surprised him.

"Mom?!"

He didn't know what she was doing, but he saw her going through his drawers and his room was a complete mess of things she pulled out of them.

"What are you doing in my room?!"

"You are my son, sadly,"

That hurt, he thought.

"I have the right to look through your stuff," she finished.

"Um, no? Get out of my room!"

"What is all this stuff you have here?" She reached down and picked a paper off the floor but he snatched it from her before she could read it.

"Why are you even in here?!" He was pretty outraged. What right did she have to search through his stuff? He thought.

"I wanted to look through your stuff,"

"So that's your reasoning why you completely tore up my room?"

"Oh, I found those old toys you and Ami used to play with. I threw them away just so you know,"

"What! Why?"

"You're ... wait how old are you? Well, your old! You don't need toys anymore. I was just trying to help clean up your room and you yell at me. So selfish!"

"This," Jack motioned to all around his room. "Is not cleaning it! Please get out mother!"

She snatched up five dollars that were sitting on his shelf. "You don't need this, so I'll just take it,"

"GET OUT!" He shoved his mom out of the room and slammed the door closed and locked it.

Once she was out, he looked around the horrible mess she had made of his room. He groaned at it all and started to clean it up. He picked up pieces of papers that were scattered across his room. He shuffled through them when he found something. He read it out loud.

'_Dear Jack,_

_I'm going to miss you a lot while your gone! But I know Emma will get better soon and we'll all be able to spend summer together again. Hey, remember last summer when your mom let us make those cookies and we put salt instead of sugar? We sold those cookies to people and they all pretended they tasted great because they didn't want to offend us. That was great._

_Oh, so you know how my dad applied for that job at the bowling alley here? Well he got it! He said he can let us in for free! So tell Emma she has to get better so we can all go bowling together! I know she can do it. I can't wait. Well, I gotta go now. Can you call me from your uncle's house? Tell Emma I miss her too! Okay, bye!_

_-Ami_'

"I'm such a terrible friend," He sighed, closing the letter. "She asked me to write back to her, and I didn't once. Not once the whole time I was gone... how does she even stand to be my friend?"

"I don't know, how does she?" Jack heard someone say from outside his door.

Outraged by her eavesdropping, he yelled. "MOM! GO AWAY! IT'S CALLED PRIVACY! GO AWAY!"

"Fine," He heard her say quietly and then he heard her leaving.

He sighed and lied on his bed. He opened his phone and text Evan.

'What days are the festival next week?'

A few minutes later his phone vibrated.

'Tues, Wens, & Thurs. Mon is set it up and Fri is the day they take it down.'

'Are you and the others going all the days?'

'Idk, we're going Tues for sure. Nathan is drivin us if u want 2 come. We can pick u up. U comin?'

'I guess.'

'K ill let him knw'

'Okay thanks, night.'

'Night.'

* * *

**Tuesday Morning,**

Jack was lying on his bed, dressed and shoes on, waiting for his phone to vibrate. Eventually it did.

He clicked answer on his phone and put his ear up to it.

"Hey Jack we're out front. Since I know you said to not come up to the door," He heard Evan say from the phone.

"Okay I'll be out in a second,"

"Ok,"

He jumped off his bed and ran to his shelf where some money lay that he grabbed and shoved into his pocket along with his phone. He left his bedroom and walked to the front door. He very slowly and gently opened it to where it didn't make a sound and he slipped out. His mom still forbid him from going to the festival and hanging out with his friends so he had to sneak out.

"Hi," He said, reaching the car.

"Uh, Snowball head, you do realize we're going skiing and ice skating right? You might wanna get warmer clothes than that," Evan said, motioning to the thin jacket Jack seemed to always wear and black jeans.

Jack shook his head. "I'm fine,"

"Whatever you say. But if you get frostbite it's not my problem."

"Where's Tina?" Jack said once he got settled in the car.

"She isn't here yet, we're picking her up on the way,"

He nodded.

"Hey do you mind if my friend Ami joins us later?"

"Nah,"

* * *

"You guys ready to have the best time ever?!" Tina cheered once they parked and got out of the car.

Jack shrugged, eyes half closed. Honestly, this was much too early in the morning for me. But if he wanted to come to the festival he'd have to come at this time or his mom would of been awake.

"Let us off to go skiing!" cried Nathan, grabbing Evan's arm and dragging him with him.

Jack sighed, although he really didn't mind skiing. In fact, he was quite good at it. Not that he'd ever tell anyone that. He just didn't like bringing attention to himself.

"Nathan loves skiing. I can't skii, neither can Sean. Evan doesn't like to very much but since he's the only one that can do it without falling, Nathan always brings him along," Tina said.

"Oh,"

"Can you?"

Jack shrugged.

"Wanna ice skate then? Sean and I can do that,"

"Sure,"

She dragged the white haired teenager and mute boy off with her to the skate rink, which wasn't crowded at all. They rented some skates and Jack had just finished tying the shoe laces.

"C'mon Jack!" yelled Tina as she slid across the rink with a little bit less grace then she had hoped for.

He lifted his foot and slowly set it down on the frozen ice. He set the other one down. He slowly pushed himself across the ice. Sean made his way towards Jack, as if trying to help him.

"Oh, it's fine Sean. I know how to... I just haven't in awhile,"

Sean slid across the ice a few feet away from Jack, giving him room to skate.

Jack soon was gliding across the ice wonderfully, the others just stared at him. They were amazed at how great he was at it. Soon, two hours passed and they hadn't even noticed.

"We're back!" a low voice said.

"And freezing," Evan grumbled once they were in view.

Seeing them, Sean skated off the rink and went to them.

Tina stopped from where she was skating and turned to them. "Oh, hi Nathan! Hi Evan! You know Jack is really good at skating?"

"Well that's good because Evan has gotten worse at skiing," shouted Nathan.

"I haven't done it since last winter!" Evan groaned, "And now I'm freezing cold because I fell in the snow multiple times,"

"Why would you openly admit that you fell multiple times?" questioned Nathan.

Evan groaned.

"It's just a little snow,"

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S NOT COLD!" yelled Evan. "This fake snow is even colder and slipperier than real snow!"

"How does it being fake make it more slippery?" asked Tooth as she got off the rink.

"I think he means it's harder, not as fluffy and soft," said Jack, following behind Tina.

"You would know," grumbled Evan quietly.

"How about we go get hot chocolate and look around for a bit?" suggested Nathan.

"Sure, we just gotta turn our skates back in," Tina said.

* * *

"I do like hot chocolate!" exclaimed Nathan as he drank from his cup.

"Who doesn't?" said Tina.

"Jack?" A voice said.

Jack tensed and looked over his shoulder to the voice. "Oh, hi Ami!"

She walked over to where he was sitting and sat down.

"I guess you already met Tina and Evan. But this is Ami, she's my friend. Um... this is Nathan and Sean,"

They both waved and Nathan went back to drinking his hot chocolate.

"I hope I wasn't really behind you guys or anything. You got here awfully early and my parents didn't want me leaving that early," Ami said.

"Oh, no it's fine. We went ice skating for a bit and then came here," said Tina.

"Oh good. I didn't miss much," She paused and looked over. "Oh Jack, you actually got hot chocolate. That's a surprise. You never get anything to eat,"

Jack inwardly groaned. Did she really have to bring this up here, in front of all of them?

"He wouldn't get one at first, but I talked him into it," Tina said, proudly for some reason.

"Oh good job. He really does need to eat more,"

'Why are they fussing about me like I'm a 4 year old?' Jack thought.

"So I guess we didn't really get to actually meet before, so you've known Jack for awhile?" asked Tina.

"Yup! His mom used to babysit me over the summer when we were little and we just became best friends then. It was good too, since I'm home schooled and I used to live in France so I didn't have many friends after moving here. Although, being so little I suppose it didn't really matter,"

"Oh your from France? That's so neat!"

"Yeah!" She smiled.

"I wish my parents were from somewhere cool like that. Although I love my dad's job. He's a dentist, which I want to be too!"

"Oh, you do? I like teeth too! I think I want to be an orthodontist,"

"I love teeth!" exclaimed Tina.

"Look! The tooth obsessed girl finally found her match," joked Evan.

"Hmm?" questioned Ami.

"Oh Tina is absolutely obsessed with teeth it's kinda scary. I call her Tooth for it sometimes,"

"Aww! That's cute, imma call you that!"

"Haha only if I can call you Baby Tooth!"

"Why that?"

"Well if my name's Tooth, you love teeth too but your younger than me so your like a baby,"

"Ah, I see," smiled Ami.

There was a moment of silence and Jack moved in his seat, uncomfortable.

Ami sensed this and spoke up. "Oh, Jack! Don't you remember when we came here before with your mom?"

"Hmm..?" He said, half listening.

"We got hot chocolate and then burned our tongues. We complained about it the whole rest of the day remember?"

"Oh, I think..." Jack said, but not remembering at all.

Nathan stood up from where he was sitting and set his empty cup of hot chocolate down, "You guys ready to go look around now?"

They all nodded and exited the warm coffee shop going into the cold.

They walked by a few booths and looked through the stuff. Tina bought a candle that she said she "must have because it was in the shape of a tooth," It was spearmint scented.

"Aww Jack! Look at that!" Ami said when they were out in the open again.

"What?" He asked, looking where she pointed.

"The play house!" She exclaimed, pointing to a blow up play house that little kids were surrounding.

He straightened up, as if realizing what she meant. "Aww, do you think they still remember me?"

"Well how can you forget the kid that told them off and punched a little boy?"

"Wait what?" Tina and Evan both said at once.

"Oh just when we were little," Ami paused laughing. "Jack and I were playing on it and this boy kept making fun of me and pushing me. If it was now, I would just laugh at it but I didn't know any better back then. I just started crying. Jack saw me and asked me who made me cry. I told him I fell off the playhouse because I was afraid to say the boy bullied me. Jack tried to comfort me but I just kept crying. He marched right up to the managers running the playhouse and told them their playhouse was unsafe. They just ignored me which made him scream at them because they didn't care a little girl was crying. The managers had to go get Jack's mom to tell her to take him. His mom asked me how I fell off the playhouse and I didn't have an answer. So I told her the truth, a kid was bullying me. Jack heard and got really mad. Apparently you don't wanna see an 8 year old Jack mad," She laughed again, as if imagining it all over again. "He went up to the boy and punched the him. He didn't really get hurt but it caused us getting banned from the playhouse the rest of the day,"

Jack scratched the back of his head, obviously embarrassed.

"Seems like you always cause trouble, snowball head," said Evan once Ami was finished.

"Aww but it was sweet of him!" Tina joined in smiling.

"Did the boy ever get in trouble?" asked North.

"I don't know, like I said we got banned," Ami commented. "But I wasn't upset after that. Jack was sweet,"

"That kid really made me mad," grumbled Jack.

"It's okay," Ami laughed, ruffling Jack's white hair.

They stood there for a few seconds, awkward silence surrounding them again so Tina talked.

"We should go skating again! You wanna come with me, Ami?"

"Sure!"

Ami and Tina went off to go ice skating leaving Jack, Evan, Nathan and Sean.

"Really," said Evan.

Jack looked up to him as if asking 'what?'.

He just shook his head in disappointment but then talked, "C'mon Snowball head, let's see if you can snowboard!"

Nathan cheered and Sean just followed the other boys up the hill.


	9. Winter Festival Part 2

**Please note, I've never snowboarded, iceskated, skied or anything before so if it's wrong I'm sorry.**

"Uh, you sure about this?"

"Are you just chicken"

"Pff, ME? Chicken? Please,"

"Then go down!"

Evan looked down from where he was standing. He was currently at the top of the biggest hill covered in snow, which wasn't that big since it's all fake snow but still pretty large, looking down at Nathan and Sean waiting for him to go down. Somehow, Jack talked him into it.

"Just go down Evan!"

"You go down Snowball head!"

"Is Evan too scared to go down first?"

"You go!"

"Fine, but you better come down after me!" Jack said as he switched places with Evan. In all honestly, he was a bit scared too. But he really was good at snowboarding, why should he be worried? He was good at any snow sport.

He slowly took his foot off the board and placed it into the white snow. He glanced back at Evan. "Chicken," He said as he pushed his foot off the ground and back onto the board. A second later he was gliding down the hill with amazing speed. He screamed as he went down the hill. Not because he was scared, but because he was having fun. In his mind, it seemed to take hours to get down the hill. Finally he reached the bottom where Nathan was cheering and Sean was clapping. He hoped off his board and yelled up at the gray haired boy at the top.

"C'mon Evan! Too scared still?"

Evan just barely heard him and glared at him. Even though he knew Jack wouldn't be able to see it from where he was. He followed what Jack had down, pushing off the snow with his foot. Down the hill he went, not quite as fast as Jack, but still fast. Unlike Jack's cheers of joy, he was silent with a terrified face on. He tried to stop once at the bottom of the hill but the momentum of the speed sent him flying into a pile of snow. Jack laughed.

"Aww looks like the little chicken actually made it!" Jack continued laughing.

Evan groaned.

"You okay Evan?" Asked Nathan, trying to hide a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah," He said, annoyed, as he brushed the snow off his clothes.

"You shoulda seen your face Evan!" Jack yelled, still laughing.

Evan glared at him.

Evan brushed the snow off him and shuffled through the snow to find his snowboard.

"Nathan! You should go down the hill! It's great!"

"Are you kidding me? After seeing Evan go down-"

"-aww, please Nathan!" Jack interrupted.

"After seeing Evan go down," Nathan continued "OF COURSE I'LL GO!"

Jack laughed, "Yes!"

"You sure you don't wanna go again?" Nathan asked to Evan.

That caused Nathan to get another glare.

"Okay, okay. That's a definite yes. Don't you think so Jack?" joked Nathan

"Why certainly," Jack played along.

"NO. IT WAS A NO!" Evan yelled.

"No need to yell, we just got confused,"

"Sure. Sure," Evan said as he walked away from them.

Jack turned to face Nathan. "You ready?"

"Is Santa Clause ready on Christmas Eve?"

"Uh... yes...?"

"YES!" yelled Nathan grabbing his snowboard and running to the top of the hill.

Jack laughed, "Okay then!"

Jack ran to the top of the hill following close behind Nathan. Once at the top of the hill, Nathan set his board down.

"WATCH OUT GUYS!" Nathan yelled. "You're about to see some amazing snowboarding!" He bragged.

"OKAY," Said Jack sarcastically.

"DO YOU DOUBT MY AMAZING-NESS?"

"No... I just don't think you can do it," Jack joked.

"THAT IS DOUBTING MY AMAZING-NESS!"

"Just go you old fat man!"

"I am not old nor am I fat. This is just... protection," He said, motioning to his slightly-but-not-very-fat-belly.

"Protection from what?"

"I don't know! Just let the old fat man snowboard down the hill in peace will you!"

Jack laughed and help up his hands in defense, kidding. "Okay go!"

Nathan put one foot on the board and one foot in the snow and pushed off. He didn't go anywhere. Jack immediately started cracking up. Nathan tried again to move but it failed. That just caused Jack to laugh even more.

"Don't laugh! Help me!"

Jack paused from laughing. "You-" He started but broke off laughing again. "You can't even move!"

"Help me!"

"Okay, okay," Jack said, finally stopping his laughter.

"Push me!"

Jack got behind Nathan and pushed the heavy boy so he would slide down the hill. It took a few seconds and Jack had to put all his strength in it but soon Nathan was gliding down the hill.

"Go Nathan!" Jack cheered.

"Woohoo!" He could hear Nathan say.

All the sudden Jack cried out. "Move over! Move over!" But it was too late. Nathan crashed into another person snowboarding going down the hill.

He thought they may of gotten hurt at first but then he heard both the boys laughing so he knew they were okay. He watched as Nathan tried to stand up on the wet snow. Jack couldn't stop laughing again. Nathan tried to stand up again but fell back down on his butt. The next time he tried to stand up, the other snowboarder held his arm up to try and help but Nathan ended up making them both fall on the ground. Jack laughed for a few minutes until he decided it was time to help them.

Soon Nathan and Jack had taken turns going down the big hill. Sean and Evan stuck to the small hills. Jack had just gone down the hill for the fifth when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled the phone out and looked at the screen. He stared at it for a second which made Nathan notice.

"Something wrong?"

"Uh, I just gotta call my mom real quick. Sorry," he said as he threw his snowboard down and some other equipment that was unneeded at the moment.

"Be right back," He said as he ran off to down a path in the woods to get away from the noise.

"Where's Snowball head going?" Evan asked as he walked up to Nathan.

"You really need to think of a better nickname. That _really_ is a really bad nickname you know,"

Evan just glared at him for the hundredth time today it seemed.

"He had to go call his mom or something,"

"Oh,"

* * *

"Where's Jack?" Tina asked once she saw their white haired friend was missing. They had planned on meeting by the coffee shop again in two hours.

"He had to go call his mom. He left like 10 minutes ago. He should be back soon," Nathan said.

"What?!" asked Ami the second Nathan finished.

"I said he went to go call his mom?" He repeated.

"You let him _leave,_ disappear from your sight, to go call his mom?"

"I don't really see the problem here...?" Evan asked, confused.

Ami face palmed. "You guys really don't know anything about him do you!"

She was so mad. Not at them, just at the situation. "We need to go find him," She turned around, starting to walk away.

"Why?" Tina finally asked.

She turned back around to face them. "His mom! She's gonna be so mad!" She turned back around and ran back to the snowboarding area.

The others just stood there in silence for a few seconds.

Finally Evan broke the silence. "Why... why is it such a big deal? I mean... he'll probably just get yelled at. Yeah that's not the best thing but why is she freaking out...?"

Tina was the first one to respond but it took a few seconds. "I think- I think there's a lot about Jack we don't know. She seems to know him pretty well so there's probably a reason. I'm gonna go with her," She finished talking and then ran off in the direction Ami went.

**I wanna give the idea of Jack being good at winter sports to the user Mimi011 :) She suggested I do that, so bam I did.**


	10. Runaway

"Jack!" yelled a girl as she ran up the old stairs with another girl following close behind her.

They came to a door and paused for a second. The Tina turned to Ami and was about to speak when she saw Ami shove open the door.

"Jack!" Ami screamed again.

He looked up from what he was holding to face them. His eyes were red and puffy, obviously had been crying but he hid it well. He had a red mark across his pale face. He stared at the two girls for a second but then looked down to the bag in his hand once again.

"What-what happened?" the French girl asked.

Jack ignored her.

"Jack?" questioned Tina.

Ignored.

"Jack! What's wrong? You can't just pretend like we're not here. We care about you but you're just ignoring us!" yelled Ami frustrated.

He turned to them again. "There's nothing wrong, you don't need to be here," he said monotone.

The girls stood there for a minute and watched as the pale boy continued to shove more clothes into the tattered bag.

"What do we do?" whispered Tina.

"Um.." Ami said, but then advanced towards the boy.

"Jack? What-what are you doing?" she said and sat on the floor beside him.

"I'm leaving,"

"What?"

"I can't stand her anymore, Ami," he said, with the same emotionless voice.

"You-you mean you're moving?" asked Tina.

He didn't speak.

"You-you can't move, Jack! You're only fourteen!" she cried as she sprawled down on the floor next to them.

"Jack! You're not thinking this through!" cried Ami.

"I can't stand her anymore! She-she doesn't understand anything! She thinks she rules the world and-and that I must listen to every word she says. She thinks she's always right, like there's no possibility she'd ever be wrong! I-I know she's my mom and I should listen to her but I- I can't. She-She doesn't understand me or what I'm going through!"

"Jack-" Tina started but got interrupted by Jack.

He stood up from the ground. "No! She doesn't care about me! She doesn't think about what I'm going through or how I feel! It's-it's only her! She thinks the world revolves around her!"

"Jack! You need to think this through!" said Tina.

"I'm beyond tired of her," he said, turning to his closet and grabbing more items to shove in his already full bag.

Tina stood up from the ground and turned to Jack. "Okay, well where will you stay?"

"I'll find somewhere," Jack said, laying a book in the bag.

"Will you just drop out of school? Or will you still go?"

"Yeah," He was only half listening to the conversation.

"How will you feed yourself or get money to do anything?"

"I'll get a job,"

"Jack, I know mom's can be a pain but you have to make up with her" Tina said sternly, trying to get his attention.

"Tina! I can't!"

"All of us get annoyed by our parents sometimes," She continued. She didn't understand though. She thought Jack was merely being a teenager who disagrees with his mom. She didn't understand the actual situation.

"She's your mom," Ami joined in, "She's not perfect, but I know she's trying. I knew her before all of this and I know she loved you. Just imagine that happening to your child. You wouldn't be able to handle it well either,"

"But it happened to my sister! That's practically the same thing! Her logic makes no sense! Because you can't be with your little girl anymore you decide to make your son's life more miserable than it already is? Emma being gone already killed me but now I get to deal with my crazy mom too!"

"And you're strong for being able to deal with all of this. But she can't hide it as well as you can, Jack. She's not perfect. I'm not justifying her actions but she does deserve a little room for mistakes,"

"Then what do you want me to do Ami! What? What do you expect me to do? What does she expect from me? I can't bring her child back to life! I would give anything for it to be me instead of Emma but it's not so what does she want from me!" Jack yelled trying to be bold but fear and sadness were clearly written in his face.

Tina stood there motionless for a second, listening to what Jack and Ami had just said. What did he mean bring her child back to life? "Jack, I don't know what's going on in your life and I don't know how you feel but what Ami said is true. She is your mom and you need to respect her even if she can't make logical decisions all the time,"

"But you don't understand!"

"Then tell me!" Tina insisted.

Jack looked at her with his mouth slightly open as if he was about to tell her. Ami stared at him, looking to see if he'd tell Tina right then and there. The three stood in silence for a few seconds waiting for Jack to reply. His only reply was a shake of his head, as if saying no.

"You're so frustrating, Jack!" Tina complained.

He sighed.

"Put your bag down. You can't and aren't going to run away," said Ami.

"...I know..." he said quietly as he threw the old bag on the ground. "It was a stupid idea..." It was as if he realized the situation he was in and how foolish he was acting. His emotions seemed to completely change in that instant.

There were a few minutes of silence but Tina decided to ask the question that both her and Ami were wondering,

"...what happened on the phone...?" asked Tina.

It took Jack a moment to reply, "Figured out my mom is mentally insane, I know that for sure now," he half joked.

Tina sighed, knowing she wouldn't get an answer right now. "C'mon Jack. Let's go find the others,"

"But... if my mom finds out again-"

Ami interupted "-she can't do anything worse to you then having the want to run away from your own home. We're not leaving you alone, who knows what you'll do to yourself like this,"

Tina stared at Ami as if asking 'why, what could he possibly do?' but Ami ignored the look.

He grumbled but then nodded. "...whatever..."

Tina went to grab his arm to pull him out of the room but then he spoke, "Wait, guys... you just told me to respect my mom and listen to her. But she doesn't want me hanging out with you guys so isn't that disrespecting her?"

"Maybe, but we're not leaving you alone and besides, why shouldn't you be able to hang out with us? That makes no sense," Tina answered.

"Alright," said Jack as he walked out of his messy bedroom alongside Tina and his best friend.


	11. Tina and Ami

"Sure took you long enough Snowball head," Evan said once Jack came into view with the other two following behind.

"Sorry," Jack said and scratched his head.

There was an awkward silence again and Tina tried to think of something to break it.

"Uh, so what do you guys wanna do now?" she asked at last.

Evan shrugged. "I don't know, do you guys wanna stay here?"

"What time is it?" asked Jack.

"It's almost 4:00, they close around 6:00 I think," commented Tina.

Hearing what time it was, Sandy waved his arms around in the air but he went unnoticed. The others were chatting about the ideas they had on what to do for the rest of the day. Finally Sandy pulled on Nathan's jacket.

"Oh Sandy, what's up?" asked Nathan once he noticed the blonde haired boy.

Sandy pointed to his arm like he had a watch on it and then pointed in a direction away from the crowd.

"You have to go?" questioned Nathan.

Sandy nodded.

"Oh alright. Bye Sandy! I'll text you if we decide on doing something tomorrow,"

The others waved to the small teenager and then the boy ran off into the direction he pointed.

Nathan turned back towards his friends. "You guys wanna come over to my house?"

"Sure," Evan shrugged.

"Oh, well I should probably go home so my mom doesn't worry. Sorry. I'll walk over to Nathan's car with you guys though," Ami joined in.

The rest agreed and they started making their way to Nathan's car. On the walk there, Ami found Tina and walked beside her.

"Sorry about Jack," Ami said quietly.

"Why do you say that?" Tina wondered.

Ami shrugged. "I don't know. I feel bad. I didn't explain to you what was going on,"

"What _was_ going on?" Tina asked

"I don't know, honestly. He hasn't had the greatest luck within this past year but the situation just seems to be so much worse then I thought,"

"Did something happen to him?"

"To him specifically? No, I guess not. But the things around him haven't been working in his favor at all,"

"If it's okay to ask- what hasn't?"

Ami sighed. "I think, I think it'd be best to wait for him to tell you that. Wait until he's comfortable with all of you and he'll tell you. I know he will. I don't want give away secrets he doesn't want people knowing, you know?"

Tina nodded in understanding.

"But- I can give you this, his mom isn't the best mom out there. She hates him, practically. Her husband left her after she had Jack. She was stuck taking care of Jack by herself. I think maybe once or twice the man stopped in to give a little money to his son and old wife. Later she re-married with another man. I've been told he was kind unlike Jack's dad. He was in the military though and was deployed the day after his daughter was born. The man died fighting. I don't think Jack even knows his mom married two men. I'm pretty sure he believes his sister and him were full-blooded siblings although it's not true. I guess all of this is why Jack's mom is left so damaged. I mean one of her husband's left and the other died. Then Emma..." Ami paused for a few seconds. "But that doesn't justify her actions. I haven't really seen his mom since Jack moved back so I don't really know how bad she is but from what I hear Jack tell me, she treats him terrible,"

Tina didn't reply for a minute and it worried Ami.

"Sorry, I probably didn't explain that well at all-"

"No... it's fine. I think I got it..."

There was a few minutes of silence as the girls continued to walk to Nathan's car but it was silence they didn't mind.

"Ami?" Tina asked breaking the silence once again.

"Hmm?"

"How do you know all of this? And how do you know Jack?"

"His mom and my mom used to be best friends. So my mom knew all about it, she ended up telling me. I know Jack because he's lived here for a long time. I can't recall how we actually met but he's been here plenty long enough,"

"I must be mistaken, I thought he just moved here not too long ago? But I suppose I must be wrong since you told us all that stuff about a few years ago at the Winter Festival,"

"Oh, no Tooth! He did just move here, but he's lived here before. He moved away about a year ago to live with his uncle for a bit. He just moved back. He's been going to public school the whole time so if you've been going to public school too, surely you saw him before?"

Tina thought back really hard. Back to her years in middle school and elementary. She couldn't think of any kid named Jack in her classes. Plus, he has white hair. You'd think she'd remember somebody like that. But she couldn't. Well, he is quiet sometimes. Maybe back then he just was really good at making himself not noticed.

She sighed. "Oh. Sorry for asking such a silly question then. I hadn't realized,"

"It's fine," Ami smiled.

They had gotten to Nathan's car and as the boys piled into it, they continued to talk in whispers.

"Hey Tooth?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell Jack about his dad. I think his mom has been keeping it a secret. I think she carries it along as his dad is just busy with work so he doesn't visit,"

"Don't worry, I won't," She smiled

"Thanks, bye!" Ami smiled back and went off into a different direction towards her house.

* * *

The group drove to Nathan's house and had just gotten there when Nathan spoke up.

"I think we should bake Christmas cookies!" He exclaimed.

"Christmas cookies?" Evan looked confused. "It's February, not December. Way too early,"

"Never too early for Christmas cookies!" argued Nathan.

Evan just shook his head while Jack laughed.

"Don't laugh at me Snowball Head!"

Jack smirked. "Hey, at least I can snowboard!"

"I can! I just... don't like big hills,"

"And look terrified when you go down them,"

"That's it!" yelled Evan.

He chased after Jack while Jack yelled insults to him. Nathan ignored them and started to bake cookies and Tina just laughed at how immature they can act sometimes.

After about ten minutes of it though, Tina was tired of hearing the two boys scream.

"Okay I think that's enough,"

"No, Snowball head says I scream like a girl!"

"You do! You shoulda heard him when he went down that hill!" Jack laughed.

Once again, Evan and Jack were fighting again. Tina rolled her eyes.

"Okay! Let's watch a movie!" yelled Tina once she had truly had enough of the loud noise Evan and Jack were making.

"Yes!" said Jack and he jumped up onto the couch beside Tina.

"What should we watch?" asked Tina.

"Mm, I don't know. Something Evan will hate," Jack smirked.

"What? You know I can hear you Snowball head," Evan yelled.

Tina groaned. "Evan, _please_ think of a better name for him then snowball head. It's **really** _really_ really bad,"

Evan ignored Tina's comment and skimmed Nathan's movies. "Do you have any non-Christmas movies?" He yelled to Nathan.

"No," Nathan answered as he walked into the room with a tray full of cookies decorated in Christmas colors.

Evan sighed, "Okay Christmas movie it is then,"

The four had finished watching their movie and enjoyed plenty of cookies, although Jack only ate half of one, when Nathan's parents kicked them out.

"Sorry about my parents guys," Nathan apologized.

"It's okay. I don't blame them with how much noise was being made!" said Tina and glared over at Evan and Jack. Jack just smiled innocently.

"I can give you guys rides home if you want?" asked Nathan.

"Nah, my house is close by," Tina said.

"Same here," Evan commented.

"I'll be fine," Jack answered.

"Okay, well goodnight then!" Nathan waved to the three of them as they exited his front door.

They waved back at him and then split their separate ways to walk home.

**I imagine Burgess being a tiny tiny town so everyone pretty much walks everywhere so yup. Anyways that's really all I have to say for this chapter so goodnight since it's two in the morning... - Lizzyy :33**


	12. Mom

It was cold, dark, and wet and Jack was beginning to wish he'd taken Nathan's offer to drive him. It was only around 8:00, meaning it really shouldn't be that dark in February. But it had just started raining a few moments ago and the light that was left had disappeared. Jack really should of asked Nathan to drive him and wanted to. But when Evan and Tina said they'd walk, he didn't want to be the one to put Nathan through the trouble.

Jack was trudging along the muddy path ahead of him that he could barely see. It was so dark and cold. He didn't really mind the cold, just the dark. He hated it. In the dark, he's unable to see anything in front of him, behind him, or on the sides. Nothing is see-able can't see anything but the pitch blackness around him. And Jack didn't like that. He wanted to know his surroundings and where he was going.

Jack got lost in thought and hadn't been paying attention to where he was going. Once he realized this, he heard soft crunches when he stepped. He stopped and looked around. There was dim lights shining and when he looked to ground, he saw white. He stared at it for a second and then it came to him. He was back at main area of town where they set up the festival.

"How the heck did I end up back here?" He said aloud although no one was around to hear.

He sighed. It was raining more now and he was getting cold and wet, which is something that normally isn't a discomfort to him, it was now. True, the town was rather close to his house, but he didn't really feel like walking home in the rain. He looked around again, not realizing where in the town he was. He groaned loudly. Would he have to try to find someone to ask them where he was? He thought about it and then answered his own question. No, that'd be silly. It's such a small town, he knows it like the back of his hand. But then another thought came to him. Not in the dark rain though with snow covering everywhere, he doesn't know the town _then_. Perhaps there'd still be a few people here from earlier? But then he shook his head. He seemed to be having a mental argument with himself.

"I'll just walk home. I know this town, I should know how to get home," he mumbled to himself finally deciding what to do.

He walked through the snow as freezing cold rain poured down on his head. 'It might even be cold enough outside for it to _actually_ snow instead of this fake stuff,' He thought. He sighed, today just wasn't his day.

* * *

He got home. Finally. He got lost multiple times though.

"So much for knowing this town like the back of your hand, Jack," he told himself.

He slipped off the soaking wet shoes he was wearing. He really hated wearing shoes but he figured it'd be best for going out in the snow. Now they were soaked with rain and snow though. Then he shivered and really wished he had listened to Evan about wearing something thicker than a hoodie. It was completely soaked from the rain, along with his pants and hair.

"If Evan was here he'd definitely be telling me he told me so," Jack half smiled at that thought. Even though Evan got on his nerves, they both knew they cared for each other like brothers.

He wanted to change clothes, so he started walking to his room. Although seconds after he got into the room he was coughing over and over again.

"Jack?" he heard someone call.

He mentally groaned, not wanting to deal with his mom now. He's already had a bad enough day.

The coughing ended and he replied, "Yeah mom?"

"Are you okay?"

'That's a surprise,' he thought. 'She actually _cares_?'

"Uh, yeah I think. Just really cold and we-" He coughed again, this time much more violently. He heard his mom coming down the hallway and saw her enter his room.

"Oh Jack, you're soaking!"

He nodded, still coughing.

"What happened?"

He stopped coughing and cleared his throat but his voice came out hoarsely. "Had to walk home. Raining outside,"

"Oh! My poor boy! Here, go take a hot shower and put on some dry clothes. I'll go make some hot chocolate for you to warm up with to have once you get out,"

He eyed her suspiciously for a moment, wondering why she was being so kind but then stopped. Honestly, he'd give anything to be cared for right now so even if it was from his horrible mom, he didn't care. "Okay," he said.

He grabbed a pair of sweat pants from his drawer and a t-shirt and ran to the bathroom. He continued to cough as he slid off his wet clothes and got into the hot shower. Although Jack was one more for cold, he enjoyed the heat the shower gave. Then his mind went off to his mom. He sighed, _'She's so confusing,'_ he thought. She's so mean most of the time, hating her son to death. But then sometimes out of the clear blue she'll be the kind mother she used to be. _'I guess this is one of those times,'_ he shrugged.

He finished in the shower and put on his dry warm clothes. He figured when he exited the bathroom his mom would of changed back to her mean self again but he was soon proved wrong.

"Do you feel better?" she asked once she saw her son.

He shrugged. "I don't feel freezing cold anymore if that's what you mean,"

She laughed. _'Okay... that was kinda weird,'_ Jack thought.

"I made you some hot chocolate, dear. Come sit down with me at the table and we can talk," She smiled and motioned for Jack to follow.

"Okay, you're officially mental, mother," he whispered to himself as he followed her to the kitchen.

She turned around, "Did you say something?"

"Oh, nothing," Jack smirked.

She smiled and handed Jack a cup of hot chocolate.

He stood there, awkwardly deciding if he really wanted to talk to his mom.

She sat down and then Jack reluctantly sat down in the chair beside her.

He put the cup to his mouth and was about to drink when he sneezed.

"Bless you," she said.

He sneezed again.

"Thanks," he said and rubbed his nose.

Sneeze.

"You okay?"

He nodded.

"So Jack, why were you walking home in the rain?"

'_Well, you see, I have this mother who hates me and surely wouldn't of picked me up if I asked her to and I didn't want to bother my friend with driving me home because I bother them enough,'_ Jack only thought this though, he didn't speak it.

He set his cup down on the table. "Well Nathan, my friend, offered to drive me home but I didn't it to be an inconvenience to him so-" But Jack had to stop explaining because he had to cough. He continued coughing for almost a minute before his mom spoke,

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah-" he spoke in between coughs. "I just need some water," He stood up to get some but immediately felt dizzy. He slammed his eyes shut and winced in pain. "Dizzy," he mumbled.

"Oh my. Okay, I think you should lie down. I'm gonna bring you over to the couch, okay?"

He slowly nodded with his eyes still shut.

His mom slid her arm around his body and slowly half carried, half walked Jack to the couch in their living-room. She laid him down on it and he groaned. She looked at him with concern in her eyes.

"Are you okay? Why are you dizzy? Are you sick?"

"I-I don't know,"

"Oh! Probably because you were out in the cold for so long! It's okay, you'll be fine! I'll go get you a blanket!" Without saying another word his mom ran off to get something to warm up her son.

He felt this whole situation was so strange. His mom did this sometimes, had these random moods of acting kind, but it never lasted this long. It was extremely rare for it to happen, too. Only happened about 3 times. He was completely confused and completely convinced she was mentally insane. Not in the way of horrible or mean, although she sometimes is that, but literally _mentally_ insane. Something is wrong with her brain, he was sure of it.

"Here you go sweetheart!" She ran back into the room with a huge comforter in her arms. He eyed it suspiciously but let her spread it about him. "Get some rest, I'm sure you'll feel fine in the morning," she said once she had wrapped her son in the blanket.

He nodded and closed his eyes.

"And if you're not, I'll be here to nurse you back to health, so it's okay!" she smiled.

But Jack knew she wouldn't be. She wouldn't be here to nurse him back to health. No, she'd probably say some unkind words to him and then ignore him. He didn't want to go to sleep. He didn't want to close his eyes and loose this image of a perfect mother that he actually enjoyed. She really was a perfect mom in this moment. Sweet, kind, caring, happy. Jack wished she would stay like this. But he knew it was impossible. He knew, the second he woke up in the morning, she would be a totally different person.

**Yay, another chapter :) Now you know jack's mom is beyond mentally insane, woohoo! :) Sorry for the sort-of filler chapter :c **

**Tomorrow I have to go back to school after being out for over a week. I will die. Sigh. Anyways can I tell you guys a little story real fast? Okay so I was doing my homework earlier today and I needed help with it so I asked my mom for help. So while I was waiting for her to come downstairs I got on tumblr on my phone and was scrolling through dash and I just kept thinking OH MY GOSH WHY CANT I BE WRITING RIGHT NOWID WAY RATHER BE WRITING THEN ON TUMBLR. Normally its the opposite, i'd rather be on tumblr than writing. Anyways just thought id share that story lol. Btw I'm sorry this is another short chapter but hey the sec I finish writing this an I'm gonna start writing the next ch so... you may get another update today so I think it's okay that its short! I just wanted to end it here so yeah. OKAY ENOUGH OF THE LONG AN until next time, - Lizzyy:33**


	13. I Can't Tell You

**Question, should I change the rating to T or keep it at K+? I'm not sure.**

**I hate everything. I'm having a beyond stressful week. Ugh. Sorry not updating.**

"We should make some cookies!"

Evan facepalmed.

"What?"

"You _just_ made cookies yesterday Nathan!" exclaimed Evan.

"Never too often for cookies! Besides, you and Jack ended up falling on the plate and smashing them when you two were fighting,"

"He started it!" grumbled Evan.

"He is younger than you, you know?" questioned Nathan. "It may not seem like it, but that boy admires you,"

Evan scoffed.

"What? It's true,"

"Sure," Evan said sarcastically. "Either way, that kids strange. Somethings up with him,"

Nathan nodded.

"How does that Ami girl know him?"

"They have been friends for along time," commented Nathan.

"Yeah, but didn't Jack just move here? What was all that talk about when they were little at the Winter Festival?"

Nathan shrugged. "Maybe he's lived here all his life we just haven't noticed him,"

Evan looked at him doubtfully. "Nathan, the kid has white hair. _WHITE_ hair. I think we would of noticed him if he's always lived here. Besides, he told us he just moved here,"

"Perhaps he moved away and just moved back?"

"But that doesn't explain us not noticing him before,"

"If it was in middle school, we were young. We could of forgotten. And there are two middle schools and only one high school in town so he may of gone to a different one,"

Evan sighed as if not really believing but decided to go along with it. "Maybe,"

"Come make cookies with me now!" Nathan exclaimed as he dragged Evan to the kitchen with him.

* * *

Jack rolled around on his bed, the sheets wrapping all around his thin body. His eyes were shut tight and his hands grasped the blankets that surrounded him. He was having nightmares and _bad_ ones. He shook his head trying to get the imagines out of his brain. He sunk his head into the pillow as if it would absorb the dreams. Finally he broke out of the trance. He awoke with a start, sitting straight up. He looked around. He felt sweat dripping down his pale face and wiped his shirt across his forehead. A few coughs escaped his mouth and he sighed. But then, he realized where he was. He looked around questioningly. How was he in his bed? He fell asleep on the couch yesterday. He looked on the side of his bed and found his phone lying there.

"I left that in my hoodie," he said quietly to himself. He grabbed the old phone and looked at the time. It was 10:47.

He was confused but just shrugged it off. He set the phone back on the side of the bed and laid his head on the pillow. The dreams from the past night absorbed his mind and it's all he could think about. They were terrible dreams. Some him and Emma having a good time and then something going wrong and pulling them apart. Or maybe his mother hitting him. Sometimes flashbacks with his dad, but never showed his face. Whatever dream it was, it always ended up in a nightmare and he couldn't shake it out of his head. Before he knew it, he was crying. Why? He wasn't sure. The dreams were over, so why hurt now? Crying doesn't do anything to help either, he thought. But he couldn't stop the tears. He just lied in his bed coughs and tears shaking his body.

* * *

They stood by the old door and waited for someone to answer. It took a few moments, and they were about to leave when the door swung open.

"Yeah?" The lady who opened the door raised an eyebrow.

The three standing at the door looked her over. Her hair was a dark blonde but it was obvious when she was younger it was a vibrate color. There were bags under her eyes, wrinkles crossing her face and she looked tired. She didn't look attractive in the least at the moment, but perhaps when she was in her 20's she was pretty.

"Hi! I'm Tina! One of Jack's friends. Good afternoon! I'm guessing you're Jack's mom?" Tina smiled brightly, "We wanted to know if Jack could-" but Tina didn't get to finish.

"-Listen, Jack's grounded. But seeing as he's completely sick and I don't want to deal with the brat, you can go inside and take care of the annoying boy. I'm going to work. Goodbye,"

And with that, the lady was gone just as soon as she appeared. Tina turned and looked at Evan and Nathan and they both looked just as confused as her.

"Jack's sick?" asked Tina.

Nathan shrugged and started to enter the house.

"Should we go into her house? I mean she's not even here and-"

"The lady just left and -to her- told three strangers to take care of her sick son who is currently by himself, I don't think she cares if we enter the house," replied Nathan.

"No! I don't wanna take care of a sick snowball head all day! Let's go!" complained Evan.

Tina glared at him for saying something like that and followed Nathan. Evan groaned but then followed the two others.

"Jack?" Tina yelled. "Jack!" She thought it kind of funny. Yesterday she had walked into his house calling his name too.

She made her way to the side of the house where she slightly remembered his room being and the others followed her. She found it and knocked on the door. Nobody answered. She wondered if she should go in. She isn't like Ami. She didn't want to just barge into a boy's room. But seconds later, Nathan flung the door open. They entered into the small room and their eyes fell upon Jack's bed. Jack was hanging off it, his legs and waist on the bed but shoulders and head slung off it. His arms dangling from the bed. Tina tried not to laugh. He looked pretty funny.

"Jack?" Nathan said. He lifted up the more-then-normal pale arm and set it back down.

Jack mumbled something and the others strained to listen.

"Why did _-mumble-_ killed her. _-mumble-_ fault,"

"What is the snowball head mumblin' about?"

Tina glared at him for the use of the nickname but then turned back to Jack.

"I don't know, but let's wake him up," she said moving to his side. "How'd he even get sick?"

Nathan grabbed Jack's arms to fully pull him onto the bed. "He wasn't sick before he went home, was he?"

"No, I don't think so. When he attacked me and pushed me into Nathan's cookies, he seemed fine. I don't think he would of been fighting with me if he felt ill," replied Evan.

"Well, let's wake him up," said Tina and shook the boy.

A scream escaped Jack's mouth but he opened his eyes. He examined the room around him.

The others looked scared for a second but Tina spoke up, pretending like she didn't hear the scream. She didn't wanna make things worse for Jack then they already were. "Hi Jack! Hopefully you don't mind us being here we-"

But Jack just ignored her and interrupted. "Where's my mom?" he asked weakly and sat up.

"She went to work or something. She's really annoying. How do you stand her? She kinda yelled at us," only Evan would say something like that straight to the son of the person he was talking about, but that's not what Jack was focused on.

"...so she's gone...she-she changed back?" he said in a whisper that they barely heard.

"What?" one of them asked but he didn't know who.

"...well it makes sense. Of course she'd change back. It'd be impossible for her to stay like that...I don't know what I was thinking."

The others just looked at him bitterly the stares didn't last long because moments later he was coughing.

"Jack? You okay? asked Tina but the coughing just continued.

"How'd you even get sick? You weren't last night," Nathan said once he stoppedstopped.

"The-the rain," Jack said.

"The rain? But you live like five minutes from my house,"

There was an awkward pause and Nathan could tell Jack hadn't been listening.

"How'd I get in my room?" the pale boy asked.

"What?" Evan asked.

"I wasn't in my room. I was on the couch. How is my phone in here? It was in my hoodie,"

The others just looked at Jack confused.

"Unless my mom did it at like midnight last night or something and _then_ changed back to her evil self..." Jack said half to himself.

"What in the world are you talking about Jack?" asked Tina.

"My mom," he said as if it was obvious.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," Jack said quickly, realizing what he had been saying.

"No, you're telling us," said Evan. "I'm so tired of your 'nothing's"

Jack just stared at the gray-haired boy. What did he mean? He can't force Jack to tell them. So Jack stayed quiet.

"Dude, you're so pathetic," Evan grumbled after a few seconds.

Tina shot him a glare. "Evan!"

"No! Tina, he is! Not because of anything someone might call you pathetic for. Not because he's sick, or because he doesn't have many friends. No, because we're trying to help him and he doesn't give a care! I mean seriously! Jack, you actually have friends now who care and want to help but you just block them out! You won't tell us anything! Nothing! You only tell that Ami girl but I'm not even sure if you tell her half the stuff that goes on in your life. Like, why would having it caged up and never spoken, help you? That seriously won't do anything but hurt you but you still continue! I don't understand you Jack! We WANT to help but you just don't even give a freaking care. _That's_ why you're pathetic,"

He wanted to cry. The white haired boy wanted to cry. To tell them everything that was going on in his messed up life. He was tired of holding it in him, it would be nice to have someone who cared and he could talk to. He had Ami but like Evan said, she doesn't know all of it. He wanted to tell them _so_ badly. But he couldn't. He couldn't.

"I-" he said, tears threatening to spill.

Tina ran to hug the sick boy but the others waited for him to continue.

The room was silent for minutes but they finally heard the hoarse voice. "I... it'd... take so long to explain,"

"Well, we have the whole day so better start explaining," Evan said. He meant to say it kind but it came out harsh.

"My mom- she-" Jack coughed. "last night she... she was nice. _Really_ nice. She actually cared about me and talked to me without yelling,"

The others looked confused.

"She-she's like that sometimes. Normally she's..." he paused as if trying to think of a word to describe his mental mother. "not that pleasant to be around. But-but sometimes she'll have these moments wh-where she'll be nice again, and I guess that was yesterday night,"

The three still looked confused but understood a little bit better.

"But why is she like that?" Tina asked.

Jack didn't know if she meant why was his mom sometimes nice or why was she normally mean but he didn't ask. "I'm-I'm not sure. She-we've had a lot of stuff go on in our lives lately and so..." Jack stopped.

Silence filled the room once again. Nobody dared to talk for some reason. It was as if there was a barrier. Nathan had picked up a small toy on Jack's shelf and examined it as they waited in the silence.

Then finally, Evan asked the question they were all wondering. "Like what?"

Jack was surprised by the voice. He had been zoned out in thought and forget the three were even in his room. "What did you say? Sorry,"

"I asked what has happened in your life that's so bad?"

The boy was confused by himself. He wanted to answer the question so badly but also didn't. "It's...personal," he finally said.

"We wanna help Jack. And we can't if you don't tell us what's up,"

"Evan! But that doesn't mean be rude! He already told us about his mom. Maybe it's personal like he said and he doesn't want to tell us. There is no problem with that," Tina said but secretly hoped Jack would tell them. She assumed this is what Ami was talking about.

Jack shook his head. "Really... it's... too complicated and I really... don't want to tell. I'm sorry. Thanks for caring though. It means a lot. I know I'm stupid for not wanting to tell you. I guess it's my fault but it's just..." he didn't want to finish. His voice had become even more hoarse and it actually did hurt to talk because of all the coughing he had done. His head was thumping and he just wanted to sleep.

Tina went to hug him again but Evan held her back. "No. It's not your fault Jack but we want to know what happened. You have to tell us. You _need_ to tell us. I don't mean to be rude but you're pretty screwed up and you seriously have to tell us,"

Of course, he knew Evan was right. He was screwed up. How could he not be? His mom basically abuses him, his little sister died, he gets bullied, he never sees his dad, he has a hate relationship with food and so many other things wrong. But he was still quiet.

Evan groaned. "Listen, I don't understand why you wouldn't tell us. I mean you may of been trying to be happy and pretend like nothing was wrong, and we believed that for a little. But now we KNOW something is wrong so why not just tell us? It's not like you can continue pretending to be happy because we know something isn't right. You told us that yourself. That your life has been messed up and there's a lot going on right now, you just haven't told us _what_,"

**Oh gosh, I'm sorry for not updating for like two weeks. These past weeks have been so stressful and I've struggled so much today. But like the first half of this chapter I re-wrote like 10 times. I'm not exaggerating. The second half I wrote today though. Anyways, one last comment. To those girls who I said I'll make a rotg blog with, I think I'm gonna wait until summer to make one. I'm sorry. Everything is just so stressful for me right now. Summer break is in like 6 weeks... Okay, I love you all. c:**


	14. Misunderstanding

**Around 3,000 words guys! A little longer then most of my chapters! I hope you enjoy this one! The others are starting to figure out what's up with Jack! :) Btw, there will be around 25 chapters.**

"You can't just do that!"

"He needs to tell us what happened!"

"Yes, but yelling at him won't help!"

"Evan, Tina is right. Yelling at the boy won't give us answers,"

"Well what else will?!" grumbled Evan.

"We wait until he's ready," the oldest boy said.

"We've _been _waiting!"

"Then we wait longer,"

Evan sighed. He was tired of Jack pretending like nothing was wrong when they all knew something was.

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Tina

Nathan shrugged. "I don't know. I don't wanna leave him so I guess we stay..."

"Right,"

It grew awkward and the three friends were standing in the hallway in silence. They weren't sure what to talk about.

"I'm hungry, let's go find some food in the kitchen!" Evan complained after he had enough of the silence.

"This isn't our house Evan! You can't just go through their kitchen!" Tina exclaimed

"I'm still looking for food," Evan said walking off in the direction he presumed was the kitchen.

Tina sighed. "I better follow him," she said and ran after Evan.

Nathan shrugged and walked back into Jack's room. After Evan yelled at Jack to tell them what happened, Jack stayed quiet. They decided to not go on the topic anymore so Tina tried to start a conversation on the subject of something else but soon found out Jack had fallen asleep. Tina had dragged Evan out in the hallway to yell at him for forcing Jack to tell them what was the matter. She lectured both of them til they were completely tired of the subject.

Nathan didn't really know what to do. He didn't want to leave because Jack was sick. But being in a house you've never gone in before and no adults and your friend is asleep, was awkward. He sat on the corner of Jack's bed and played with his own hands. After a few minutes of that he took out his phone and text a few people but none replied. It was about 12:00 and a day with no school, most of his friends were still asleep. He played a few games on his phone but he soon grew tired of that. Deciding to look around Jack's room, he stood up. He knew he probably shouldn't, but he was just as curious as Evan as to what happened to the boy. Even if he didn't show it as much as Evan. He opened a few drawers in Jack's cabinet but only found clothes. Sighing, he walked over to a desk lying in the corner of the room and looked on it. There was a frame of him and another girl. He examined the picture closer and realized it was Ami. The two were both much younger then they are now but were beaming with happiness. The picture only gave Nathan more to wonder about Jack. Earlier that day when Nathan said Jack may of lived here his whole life but they didn't notice, could it be true? Honestly Nathan had just said it to make Evan quit talking. He did just say it to make Nathan stop talking but maybe Jack really did live here his whole life, they just never noticed. If he knew Ami when he was as little as he is in this picture, he must of. But then, Nathan started to feel guilty. Jack's been here this whole time and none of them noticed him? How could they not? He has white hair and pale skin, sticks out in a crowd of people like a fruit loop in a bowl of cheerios. Nathan sighed, he didn't want to feel guilty. He shook the thought from his mind and continued to look at the rest of the desk. There were school books spread about it making it very messy. He looked through the papers, took them and stacked them up along with a few heavy textbooks. He lifted up a thick Biology I textbook and it reminded him of how much he hated that class when he took it as a sophomore He set the book down on the hard table with as little noise as possible. He didn't want to wake up Jack. What was under the book caught his eye and he held up the crumbled piece of paper that was underneath. He eyed it over and it read:

_'Height: 4'1_

_Weight: 49 lbs _

_Eye Color: Green-Blue_

_Hair color: Blond _

_Age: 7 Years_

_Hospital Entrance Date: April 6 2012_

_Diagnosed with: Leukemia_

_Condition: __Severe_

_Current date: November 22 2012_

_Full Name: Emma Rue Frost Sifer'_

Saying Nathan felt confused was an understatement. What was this? It looked like a hospital paper. One you fill out for the doctor when you go in for a checkup. But this one looks like it was printed off, like a doctor printed it off to give to the family. Who was this Emma? Nathan didn't remember Jack's last name but Frost sounded familiar. Then, the dates? He glanced back up at them. _April 6th _and the current date_ November 22. _April to November, that's months and months in the hospital! Perhaps she was let go in november, or sooner? He thought it over. No. She couldn't of, not with a severe case of cancer. Wait...Wasn't Leukemia the cancer Jack, Tina and Evan did for their school project? And from what it looks like... this is a hospital note and this Emma is related to Jack. Did Jack feel comfortable doing Leukemia for their project? She's only 7 years old which probably means... it's his sister. Or _was_ his sister? Uh oh. He hoped it wasn't the latter. He scanned his eyes across the paper again and then noticed something. There was an address on the top, the hospital's address.

Silvia Children's Hospital.

There's no hospital named Silvia here. Silvia is a town. There was only one hospital in Burgess, but it was small and not that helpful. Certainly couldn't treat a patient with Leukemia. He looked at the address trying to figure out where the hospital was located. He felt stupid when he realized. Silvia, obviously! Okay well that makes sense. But that's nowhere near here! Driving for a good 5 hours straight may not even get you there! Nathan was confused. He wanted to figure this out so bad! He assumed it was Jack's sister. She'd still be alive, right? That would explain why he's so stressed out. As well as explain why his mom is gone a lot or doesn't care about Jack right now because she has a dying daughter. But, he would just tell them, right? If his sister was in the hospital, he could just tell his friends couldn't he? It's nothing to be ashamed of. They could help. They could go to the hospital together and visit his little sister. Nathan could bring cookies to cheer the girl up. Tina could read her books. Evan was really could with little kids and Sean could make her little toys. It would be a great idea! Jack would not be so stressed out by having to hide the secret too! Nathan thought this was a wonderful plan. Once Jack woke up, Nathan could suggest going to the hospital soon. Surely it'd cheer Jack up. Although it would have to be once Jack gets better, but they could wait.

Every thought of the girl not being alive still, left Nathan's mind. He was so wrapped up in wanting to meet her! He loved little kids. He hadn't thought about how the paper showed a date of November and it was March 20th and kids with Leukemia don't normally last that long. All the thoughts of bad things left his mind. He put the paper back on the desk and left the room with a smile on his face.

"Tina!" he yelled once he thought he wouldn't disturb Jack from his yelling.

He walked down the hallway the others went down and yelled again. "Tina, Evan"

"Yeah Nathan?"

Nathan turned around and saw them. Tina was siting in a chair and Evan was shoving something that looked like peanutbutter and potato chips mixed, into his mouth. Nathan stared at him for a moment but then dismissed it. "What's Jack's last name?"

Surprisingly, Tina wasn't sure. "Um... I don't really know,"

Evan joined in with a mouthful of the food. "Isn't it Frost or something like that?"

Nathan nodded. "So while you guys were down here in the kitchen, I was in Jack's room and I was looking through some of his stuff-"

"What? Nathan you can't just look through peoples stuff while they're sleeping!" interrupted Tina.

Nathan laughed a little. "Um, well I just did so you can't really do anything about it now so yeah um anyways as I was saying,"

Tina sighed.

"I was looking through Jack's stuff and I found this paper. It looked like a hospital form that you fill out when you go in, you know hair color, age, weight, etc. It had a girl named Emma Rue Frost Sifer on it. It said Frost Sifer, which you guys said might be his last name. It was a little girl, 7 years old. She's in the hospital. That's what Jack's been hiding from us! His little sister is in the hospital! It explains everything, why his mom is always gone and doesn't seem to care about the boy so much right now because she's trying to take care of her daughter! It explains why Jack is so stressed and upset. It makes perfect sense!"

The other two had blank faces. Nathan couldn't tell why exactly.

"Oh Nathan!" Tina whispered. "Poor Jack, his little sister being in the hospital!"

"Exactly! So I thought of a plan to make him happy!" exclaimed Nathan.

"Oh, what is it?"

"Once he feels better we can all go see his little sister with him! We can play with her and cheer her up. I'm sure that'd make him happy too. Plus he'd be saved from having to tell us what's wrong since we'll already know!"

"Yes! Great idea Evan! I can't wait! Oh my. She's probably adorable! I'd love to meet her. I can't wait!" Tina went on about it for minutes but then suddenly stopped. "Wait, how will we tell Jack?"

Nathan looked confused.

"How will we tell Jack we know about his little sister? I mean we can't just say 'Oh yeah Nathan went looking through your room and found out your sister is in the hospital!'"

"We can think of something," said Evan, finally finished with his mush of food.

The three nodded and went to sit down on the couch to watch tv until Jack woke up.

* * *

The first thing he thought about when he woke up is how much is stomach _hurt_. He tried to go back to sleep but he couldn't. The pain was making it impossible. But he really didn't want to get up. He lied there trying to get enough energy to get up. Finally when he did, he pushed himself up and swung his feet off the bed. He glanced over at the clock on the wall and realized it was almost 2:00 in the afternoon. Why was he sleeping? He tried to think of what happened earlier but the gnawing in his stomach distracted him. He pushed himself onto his feet and walked through the hallways of his house. He was wearing a t-shirt, arms not covered. Meaning the bruises on his arms weren't covered, but he didn't even think about it. He was completely disoriented from his insides feeling as if they were twisting and turning.

"Hey look Jack's up!" announced Evan when he saw Jack walking through the living room to the kitchen.

Jack groaned and stopped. "What? Why are you here?"

"We haven't left from earlier, remember? We didn't wanna leave you alone while you were sick," commented Tina.

Jack tried to remember the hours earlier but he couldn't. He couldn't think straight with his stomach. He started towards the kitchen once again, although he didn't know why he was even going to the kitchen. What would help him in the kitchen? But then it dawned on him. Food. _That's_ what he needed. He tried desperately hard to remember what he had the day before. An apple for breakfast. A cup of hot chocolate at the festival. Half a cookie at Nathan's house. He knew his mom made him hot chocolate last night but he couldn't remember if he drank any or not. He tallied it up. Apple, 2 cups of hot chocolate, assuming he did drink the beverage, half a cookie. Well, that would explain it. He didn't like food and hated eating it but he knew he needed more then an apple, drinks and a cookie to keep himself going. He dragged his thin body to the cabinet filled with food.

"Jack?" Nathan started, trying to think of some way to tell Jack he knew his sister was in the hospital. "Hey um Jack? We know..."

But Jack was completely zoned out. Thoughts of food were filling his head and he just wanted to find something to eat that he wouldn't throw up. Cookies? No, if he was going to eat it couldn't be filled with sugars. Pretzels? No. Peanut butter? Eww, no. It looked like someone had mixed potato chips with it! He closed the cabinet and went over to the fridge. Leftover pasta? Might throw that up. Hotdogs? Vegetarian. Jack sighed and the pain in his stomach was beginning to worsen.

"Um, Nathan, I don't think he's listening," Evan explained once Nathan had been going on about how sorry they all felt about his sister.

"Jack were you listening?!" Nathan yelled.

It snapped Jack back to reality. "Huh? What?" He groaned. "My stomach hurtsssssss..."

He slammed the fridge shut and ran to the table where a bowl of fruit was sitting. An apple? Okay. That's okay. He won't throw that up and it's not unhealthy. But he was getting a bit sick of apples, it seems to be the only thing he eats now. He grabbed the red fruit and bit into it, chewing it very slowly.

Tina saw him grab the apple and when he reached out his hand she noticed something.

"Um Jack?" she inquired after he had eaten half of the fruit.

"What?" he said still chewing it.

"What... is on your arm?"

He looked confused for a moment. "What are you tal-" he looked down at his pale-thin-and bruised arm. "Nothing," he said quickly.

"Are those bruises?" questioned Evan once he noticed what Tina was talking about.

"They're-um-nothing. I'm really t-tired I'm gonna go back to sleep," Jack stuttered. He set the half eaten apple down on the table as if he was about to run back to his room.

"What are they from?" implored Nathan.

"N-nothing I just-I just fell and they just just came and..."

The sick boy looked up at his friends and hoped they believed him. The three looked unconvinced and Jack sighed.

"...bullies," he said quietly.

"What?" someone asked but Jack didn't know who.

"They-they push me into the lockers and stuff but it's really nothing-I mean I don't even care- it's nothing it doesn't matter I don't care..."

Evan sighed. "It's like we're dealing with a 5 year old," he whispered but more to himself then anybody else. He didn't mean it in a rude way, but Jack was just so shy about it he acted as if he was much younger then he is.

"Who?" Nathan asked. "Who bullies you?"

"Mm? Oh um. Who is it? Uh. Mostly... Logan,"

"The Logan you threw the waterbottle on?" Evan thought.

Jack glared at him. Evan knew it was his fault, not Jack's.

"Sorry-that I threw on him?" Evan replied.

Jack nodded. "Yeah,"

"I'm sorry," Tina commented

"It doesn't matter,"

"It kinda does. You have bruises all over your arms Jack," stated Nathan.

Jack shrugged. He honestly didn't care all that much... okay. Maybe he did care, but it didn't have to be as big of a deal as they're making it!

"Nathan," whispered Tina. "Maybe you should tell Jack about his sister and how we know what happened, that might cheer him up!"

"Good idea!" Nathan whispered back.

"Hey well Jack?"

"Hmm?"

"Remember earlier when Evan was trying to get you to tell us what happened?"

Jack groaned inside. Yes, he remembered now. "Yeah, but for the last time I'm not telling you guys wha-"

"-no you don't have to! We know what happened," Nathan proposed.

"Y-you do?"

"We're sorry about Emma being in the hospital but don't worry we'll visit her with you sometimes!"

Jack didn't know what to say. He wasn't ready for them to know. He didn't want them to know. He didn't want them to know his little sister died! How did they find out? And honestly, that may be nice for them to say they'll visit her grave with him, but he didn't want them to at all!

Jack just stood there shocked for a few minutes and everything got quiet until he spoke. "H-how did you know? How did you know she died?"

"She's dead?!" all three friends yelled at the same time.

**Incase you don't understand, Nathan thinks Emma is only in the hospital, he doesn't realize she died. When Nathan says they'll visit Emma together, HE takes it as they'll go see her in the hospital. But Jack knowing Emma obviously did die, JACK thinks they mean they'll visit Emma's grave. So do you understand? I hope so. If not just tell me and I'll explain :) Until next time, Lizzyy!**


	15. How To Fix A Mess Up

**Guys, I have reasons for not updating... sorry it took so long though.**

"Jack? What do you mean?" Jack didn't even hear who said it.

"She's dead," he whispered finally with blank emotion.

"We-we thought she was only in the hospital... I'm-I'm sorry," Tina replied in the same tone Jack did.

Jack shook his head but he didn't look at Tina. "I don't want sympathy..."

"Of-of course not," Tina said quietly.

"But how did she-" Evan started but Jack unconsciously tuned him out.

Jack wanted to run away. To get away from all of this forever. He didn't want to be here. He wanted to never have to talk about how his sister died to his confused friends. He didn't want to think about what mean things his mom would say to him when she got back, or how he wouldn't let himself eat at the next meal. He didn't want Tina's sympathy or Evan's prying questions. He just wanted to run away, from all of it and to live a new life. He wanted his sister back. But of course, he couldn't. He couldn't have that. After all, this was all his fault, right? He was stuck here, in this mess with three people who he only knew for just about a month but had become some of his best friends, staring at him waiting for him to answer them.

"I think, I think you guys should leave..." he said, not rudely at all.

"But Jack, you're sick! We can't just leave you like this. Especially after..." Tina mumbled the last part.

Nathan must of noticed the look in Jack's eyes because what he replied, surprised them. "Jack's right, let's go," Nathan grabbed Evan's arm and started to pull him to the door.

Tina started to make her way towards the door but then spoke up quietly , "Sorry,"

"Forget it," Jack replied.

Nathan opened the door and soon they were gone in seconds.

And there he was. Alone. Once again. That's how it always is. People say they'll be there for you, they'll never let you down, but when it comes down to it, it's all a lie. This is how it is and maybe how it always will be.

"I know..." the pale boy whispered to himself. "I know I asked them to leave but-but I didn't really want them to..."

He shook his head. Whatever, it doesn't matter anymore. They already left. He slowly made his way through the winding hallway and to his room. He fell onto the bed making no sound. He sighed and lied on his side thinking of nothing. After a few quiet minutes, he pulled himself up and under the messy covers. A little more sleep couldn't hurt. Besides, nobody else will be coming by anytime soon. He closed his eyes but then, a million questions race through his mind. How did they know about Emma? Why did they think she was only in the hospital and not dead? Why did they even come here in the first place? He hadn't planned on hanging out with them today. Why do they even care about him? He's not special. They can't possibly enjoy his company. Not that he's mean to them, but he's just so quiet it wouldn't make a difference if he was there or not. But then he paused that thought. It would make a difference, because they wouldn't have to worry about the problems he causes. The problems like them forcing him to eat, or the silly questions about his family. Or the delicate subject of his sister. It would make a difference if he wasn't there. Things would be a lot easier if he wasn't friends with them. So why do they still talk to him? Why do they care about him? Do they wish he would leave them? Were they happier before he moved back? Probably. But then, other questions went through his mind as well. Why was his mother so nice to him last night and why did it already have to wear off? Why does his mom not like him? Did he do something wrong to her? He mentally sighed. That questions is a conflict. Of course he did something wrong. He only causes trouble for people. Why should his mom even like him? Why should she put up with him? But he also has another answer. She should put up with him because** he** is her _son_. He is her child, the only one she has left. He doesn't deserve the name-calling and slaps his mother gives. Then other questions form in Jack's mind. Why does he force himself not to eat? Why does he hate food some much? Well, that's obvious. Because food makes a person fat. And Jack cannot be fat. "But I _am_ fat," Jack thought. Why does he wish he'd never get hungry ever again yet always crave for the taste of food? Why does he always want to eat even when he's not the least bit hungry? Because everyone craves the taste of food, he guessed. But why does he care if he's fat? He doesn't have anyone to impress. Nobody cares about him. He has no real friends. Well maybe he does now. He's not sure about Evan, Tina, Sean and Nathan. No, not Sean. He stole Jack's paper when Sean obviously knew it was secret. He can't be a real friend. And the others, they all found out about Emma! So if they were real friends they should of just waited until Jack told them. No, he doesn't have any real friends. Wait, Ami? Is she a friend? She's nice and cares but... if she knew about the real Jack, the one who hates eating and has zero self esteem, would she still be kind to him? He guessed not. He doesn't really have any friends... But should he? No. He shouldn't. He doesn't deserve any. Besides, they'll just end up pretending like they care and then go do something stupid and hurt you. They're a sign of weakness. Jack sighed heavily. It wouldn't be bad to have someone who cared though... he could use some support sometimes. Perhaps like, right now? He sighed again. His head hurt from thinking of all of this. He closed his eyes hoping sleep would come.

* * *

"What?" Evan yelled once they got inside the car.

"I don't know!" exclaimed Nathan as he drove down the road.

"Jack's sister is dead. His sister is dead. How did we not know?" whispered Tina.

Nathan sighed. "I hope he's okay, but there's nothing we can really do about it right now. I mean we can't bring her back and he probably does want to be alone right now after we... you know..."

Evan fake coughed. He didn't know what to say about all of this so he changed the conversation subject. "Where are we going? What are we doing? Are you taking us home or are we going to your house or what?"

Nathan noticed the subject change but thought nothing of it, "It doesn't matter to me what we do,"

"So you don't know where we are going?"

"No...?"

"Then where are you driving to?!"

"I don't know? I don't know where we want to go?"

"So you're just driving around aimlessly,"

"I guess?"

Evan groaned.

"Wait!" Nathan said, not moving his eyes off the road, "Should we ask his friend what we should do about Jack?"

"Ami?" suggested Tina.

"Yeah, that girl,"

"What use would that be?"

"I don't know. She might know how to help him or tell us what to do,"

"I don't really get what you mean, Nathan. There isn't really anything for us to do or for her to know. I don't understand,"

Nathan shrugged. "It's better then driving around nowhere,"

Evan agreed. "Do you know where she lives?"

"Nope,"

"Do you have her number?"

"Nope,"

"Tina?"

"Hmm?"

"Do_ you_ have her number?"

"Yeah,"

"You could have told us that in the first place!"

"Sorry... I'll text her,"

**Hour later **

"Doesn't she live close by Jack's house? I heard he used to always walk to her house so it must not be too far away..." Tina tried to help. They had been driving around neighborhood after neighborhood trying to find Ami's house. Nathan wasn't too good at directions.

"Nathan! It's not that hard. She gave us specific directions from Jack's house to her house. It's simple!"

Nathan grumbled.

"Wait, is that it?" exclaimed Tina pointing to a house.

"I think so," Evan replied.

Nathan pulled the car into the driveway and they made their way to the door.

"Ring the doorbell," commanded Nathan.

"What if it's not the right house? I don't wanna be the one who rang the doorbell! You ring it!"

"I told you to do it first!"

"I'm not ringing it! It's not gonna be my fault if it's not her house!"

"I don't wanna be the one who rang it if it's not her, either!"

"You're a coward,"

"So are you!"

Tina laughed inside but the outside she was annoyed. Just ring the stupid doorbell! She pushed pass them and pushed the little button.

Not noticing Tina scooted by them, Nathan and Evan both stared at eachother wondering who clicked the button.

Ami opened the front door and startled the boys. "Hi! It took you awhile to get here. I was starting to think you couldn't find my house! Haha, but the directions were so basic I didn't wanna believe it," she said with a smile.

Tina laughed but Evan and Nathan both looked embarrassed.

"Let's go inside," Ami said, opening the door wider and letting her friends in.

Once inside and sitting in the living room, Ami started the conversation. "So what's up? Why did you wanna come over?"

Tina looked over at her friends, hoping they'd reply but neither made a motion to speak up.

She groaned. Why did she have to do everything? "Um... you know how you told us to wait for Jack to tell us what happened himself? Instead of asking him or you telling us?"

Ami nodded, now seeming concentrated.

She stared at the ground while she spoke. "Well... we went over to his house today because he was sick and we saw his mom and she was kinda rude to us but anyways we went over to his house because he was sick, like I said and we um found a paper with some stuff on it about an Emma Sifer being in the hospital and we assumed it was his sister but we just thought she was in the hospital," Tina stopped for a moment and glanced up at Ami. She looked concerned and surprised at the same time and her hands were clenched around the chair she was sitting in.

"We-um-we mentioned to Jack about how we'd go see his sister in the hospital sometime and then he sort of told us that his sister was dead not in the hospital. Then he told us to leave and we did and now we're here..."

Ami sighed as if she knew something like this would happen. "I don't mean to say this rudely but why... are you _here_? Why did you come to me with this? I am younger then all of you so you'd think all of you would know better then me on what to do..."

Nathan spoke up for the first time since they had been here. "We thought you might know what to do... I'm not sure. You know so much more about Jack then we do and we don't wanna mess up again like we did this time..."

Ami nodded and looked down at the floor. She sat there wringing her hands as if she was nervous for a few seconds, then glanced up at the group and smiled. The others were awfully confused.

"You guys are right. There are a lot of things you don't know about Jack, but there are a lot of things I don't know about him too. He's just... quiet and doesn't open up a lot. I've known him for around 6 years and he's only opened up to me a little, so it's a surprise he's already been so honest with you guys. It's good, you know, to know he has friends that care about him enough to actually be concerned about him being sick or whatever. You guys should pleased he trusts you as much as he does,"

"I feel bad for leaving him," Tina confessed.

"Well, there wasn't really anything to do. You couldn't of brought his sister back and he did ask you to leave. It is his house. But if you guys feel bad about it, I can invite all of you over for dinner tomorrow and maybe we can resolve this. Plus, if his mom is home he won't have to deal with her but if she isn't home, he won't be alone. And we can make sure he eats," Ami smiled teasingly but a slight sadness glazed her eyes on that last part.

Tina lightly laughed then nodded solemnly "It's as if we treat him like a pet or child..." she said quietly as if it was something that shouldn't have been heard.

"I suppose that's all you can do with someone that broken,"

**Mmkay, I don't like this chapter. Sorry it's kinda a filler chapter. I don't like this story anymore. I feel like I can't write good chapters anymore ;c it's depressing. I mean I'm glad y'all like it but I don't understand how you do...anyways, I wouldn't expect another chapter until summer break because I have finals in school the rest of this week & next. the last day of school for me is may 24th I think. **


	16. Fights

He heard the front door open but Jack didn't want to see who it was. He didn't want to deal with anybody.

A few minutes passed and not much noise was made so he assumed whoever it was wouldn't bother them. A few seconds later he was proved wrong though,

"Jack!" a voice yelled.

He groaned heavily and slid off the bed for about the fifth time today. It had been around three hours since Evan and the others left.

He walked slowly down the hallway to see his mom standing there with a grim expression on her face, "Yeah, mom?"

"I'm not making dinner tonight okay?"

He lightly nodded.

"Are you still sick?"

"I feel horrible," he said truthfully. He knew his mom didn't give a care in the world about how Jack felt. She just wanted to 'pretend' she cared.

"Well you'll have to deal with it. I don't have money to buy medicine for brats like you,"

He lightly nodded again.

"Alright, I'm going to go upstairs, don't bother me. I want you to go outside and-"

"No,"

"clean the garage because spring is-, wait. What did you just say to me?"

"...no,"

"Did you just tell me no?"

He shifted his weight onto his other leg. "...yes,"

"How dare-"

"No..." he said at first meekly but the second one came out stronger, "No. I'm not putting up with this anymore,"

She raised her eyebrow. "Putting up with what?" She tried to not sound angry.

"I'm not putting up with you. I don't deserve this. I know I'm not a great son and yes you're probably highly ashamed of me but I still don't deserve this! Why did you let Nathan, Evan, and Tooth here?!"

"They're-"

"You're ridiculous. I can't even stand you. It's so stupid the way you act. As if all the problems in your life are my fault. As if I caused Emma's death. Like all of this is my fault. All of it. Really now? Like a fourteen year old could cause all your troubles? No. I don't think that's humanly possible! I wasn't even alive when you started having problems! I'm sure if I just vanished, you would come across more problems without me! I seriously just about hate you. I'm so close to hating you. I shouldn't, I really shouldn't. You are my mom. I should love you. I should listen to you and you normally should be right with your advice, but you're not! When your only child you have left, dreads whenever their mom comes home, don't you think something is wrong? I seriously can't even stand you. No. I can't do this. I can't continue living my life with my mother who thinks she's always right, when she's clearly not! If you were right, is the right thing to do, slap your kid? Or telling me I'm terrible and the worst son ever when I already have extremely low self esteem? I've never been a parent, obviously, but I know for sure that's not how you're suppose to treat your kids! I can't handle you anymore. I have so many other things going on in my life. School, bullies, eating, and so much more but you don't give a care! It's just always about you and that you're always right and there is no other right option but yours. Seriously! Start acting like the mom you should be, or I'm just going to leave! And then try to function without me, because I can promise you, you won't be able to! I miss Emma too! I do! And I know I'm not the happiest person on the earth, but you just make people's lives torture because you miss her! Anybody who is around you just automatically hates you! Seriously! Can you not act like a normal human being for a second? I don't understand why you think Emma's death is my fault. Be the adult here,"

Anger and confusion spread across his mom's face. She opened her mouth as if about to yell but Jack didn't let her,

"and don't you dare try to argue that what I'm saying isn't true! Leave me alone until you know how to be a _real_ parent," He quickly but proudly walked to his room and slammed the door.

A huge sigh escaped his body once he was in the safety of the room. Did he seriously just say that to his mom? Yeah. He did. It was good to have it off his chest. But he wasn't sure how is mom would react. Will she listen to him and leave him alone? Or will she yell at him for having an attitude with her? Whatever, he didn't really care much at this point.

A lot of stuff had happened to him today.

**Very short chapter, I'm sorry ;c**


	17. Happy Then Sad

He walked up the three steps leading to her house. Sucking in the air around him, he rung the doorbell.

_Cough._

_Cough._

_Sneeze._

He groaned. Stupid cold, ...or whatever it was.

But ugh, why did she want have him over? He wanted to lie in bed and do nothing. This week had been so stressful so far. It's only Thursday...

Getting out of his house was much easier then he had expected though. He hadn't talked to his mom the rest of last night. She left in the morning, earlier then she normally did, for work. She normally comes home from work around 5:30. So to prevent seeing her, he left at 5:00. He didn't leave a note or tell his mom where he was going but he really didn't care. She'd find out sometime.

After a few moments, the door opened.

"Jack!" Ami smiled.

"Hiii..." he drew out the 'i' but wasn't sure why.

"The others are already here. But don't worry, you're early,"

He looked to his right, seeing Nathan's car. "Yeah... I guessed they were,"

"Well c'mon! It's cold out there!" She opened the door wider for him to enter.

It wasn't cold, actually but he nodded and walked through the old door.

"The boys are in the livingroom," she said and led him through the house, although he knew around the house like the back of his hand.

"Where's Tina?"

"She's in the kitchen helping my mom. Even thought she just met my mom, she loves her. Tina insisted on helping." Ami lightly laughed.

He nodded.

Voices echoed through the house from the livingroom. They walked to the livingroom and the second everyone saw Jack, they paused and it became silent.

Jack immediately felt awkward. Why can't they just forget about yesterday?

"Hey," he said and awkwardly moved his hand up to run it through his hair but he didn't get very far because he had to cough.

He coughed into his arm for a few seconds and Ami looked over at worryingly.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He lightly nodded. "It's just," _cough_. "just a cold it's," he sucked in as much air as he could. "okay," _cough_

"I'll get you some water, be right back. Oh and sit down!" Ami exclaimed.

Sometimes, he was sure she was an adult stuck in a 13 year old's body.

He nodded, still coughing, and sat down on the couch next to Nathan.

Ami ran off down the hall and to the kitchen.

"Hi Ami," Tina smiled once Ami entered the kitchen.

"Hi. Jack's here by the way," she replied as she shuffled through the cabinets looking for a cup.

"I assumed so when I heard the door open," Tina paused. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for something for Jack to drink. I'm pretty sure he's gonna cough up everything in his stomach in a second,"

Tina sighed.

Finally finding a cup, Ami filled it up with water from the sink. Noticing her mom wasn't in the kitchen, she spoke again, "Where's my mom?"

"She got a call and went into the other room," Tina motioned to a room with a closed door.

"Oh okay," Ami replied and rushed to find Jack.

"Sorry it took so long. I hate cups," she handed the cup to Jack. He was sitting lazily and with very bad posture on the couch, but wasn't coughing anymore.

"Thanks," He smiled weakly and drank it. The cold liquid slid down his throat and made it sting. Honestly, it really didn't help. If anything it made his throat hurt more but when he finished, he smiled again. He didn't want Ami to feel bad.

"Hey Jack," Nathan said, "I think your phone is ringing,"

Jack felt his phone vibrating in his pocket and lighting up which is why Nathan saw it. He took it out and looked at who it was.

**Mom**.

He ignored it and placed it back in his pocket. "It's fine, thanks though," he replied.

"Okay..."

Turning the attention to Evan, speaking for the first time since Jack entered, he questioned Ami,"Not meaning to rush your mom or anything - she can take as long as she wants-, but how long do you think until we're ready to eat?"

"Oh um, probably only in about 5 minutes," Ami answered.

Evan nodded.

Just then a woman entered the room and everyone looked to see who it was.

"Hi Mrs. Colibri!" Jack exclaimed once he recognized her.

"Oh! Jack! Hi!" Mrs Colibri smiled, "I haven't seen you since you moved back! How are you? How is your mom? I hope you are all doing well. But I can imagine how hard all of this must be for you,"

Even though Jack didn't want to talk about how he or his mom felt after everything that happened, it didn't sadden him when she brought up the topic. He missed Ami's mom. She was like a second mother to him.

"Oh well um, I've been better before but... it's fine," he smiled again, "Everyone is being so nice since everything happened so it's helped," _Well that was a gigantic lie._ The only people who have been nice to him since he moved back were the people in this room.

"And your mom?" the lady asked. Their mom's used to be best friends.

"She um, got a job here again so that's good but um... yeah. My uncle, you know, the one we stayed with before? Yeah. He uh gave us some money to start out with moving back so. My mom's under a lot of stress now but you know... she's getting by. um. yep," _Getting by? Hardly._

Mrs. Colibri nodded as if understanding what Jack meant. "Well, you both should come over here for dinner sometime. We haven't had both of you over in a long time,"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I'll ask,"

"Well anyways, to get back tonight, I think dinner's ready now," she smiled.

Everyone stood up and followed Ami's mom to the kitchen where Tina was setting down a plate of rolls. Mrs. Colibri exited toward the kitchen.

"Oh, hi Jack!" Tina exclaimed when she saw them all enter.

He nodded to her.

Everyone took a seat at the table. Jack sat next to Ami and Nathan.

Jack's phone was lying next to his plate on the table and Ami saw it light up.

"Oh, I think someone is calling you Jack," Ami said.

Jack picked up his phone and flipped it so the back was facing towards them and he couldn't see it light up. "It's fine," he replied, a little weakly and laced with a bit of sadness.

Ami nodded lightly.

A few seconds passed in silence but then Mrs. Coibri entered again with a plate and on top of it looked like a giant turkey.

Jack laughed when she placed it on the table, immediately forgetting his sadness.

Ami smiled when she noticed why Jack laughed.

Evan looked confused. "What's funny?"

"You really made that?" Jack laughed, the question directed to Ami's mom.

"Well of course! Just don't throw it at Ami this time, okay?" Mrs. Colibri replied with a huge smile.

Both Ami and Jack burst out laughing.

Everyone else looked extremely confused.

"What do you mean?" Tina smiled when she said it though. She was glad Jack was finally happy.

"When-" Jack tried to reply through laughs, "when I was little-" but got interrupted.

Ami turned to Jack, "Good thing I'm home schooled or I would have had to go to school with a clump of my hair missing! Thank you very much Jack,"

Jack raised his hands up in defense in a joking way. "Hey I had to sit in the corner for five minutes because of that! I think I was punished enough!"

"Yes, because five minutes in the corner is such a bad punishment isn't it?" she replied in a mocking tone but was joking.

"For an eight year old Jack it is!"

"Oh you two be quiet now," Mrs. Colibri replied but she was still smiling.

Jack heard his phone vibrating again. He placed it in his pocket, once again ignoring the call.

Evan was annoyed by their laughing and not understanding why, "I'm completely confused,"

Mrs. Colibri laughed and decided to explained, "One summer day when I was babysitting Jack, I made this meal for the first time. He tried it and said it was disgusting then threw the rest on his plate across the room which was where Ami was sitting. It actually got stuck in her hair because the turkey has a glaze over it. It's actually very sticky. I couldn't wash it out so I actually had to cut part of her hair off her head,"

Evan stared at Jack with the most bizarre look ever, "You were one weird kid,"

"Well, anyways. The meal is a French one. It's turkey with a maple orange glaze. So I hope you all like it," Mrs. Colibri smiled, again for the hundredth time.

They all looked pleased and started serving their food.

A hour passed when Mrs. Colibri exited the kitchen to pick up the phone ringing.

"I'm glad you all like it. My mom always makes French oriented food," Ami said.

"It's amazing," Nathan replied, shoving more into his face.

"I agree with the fat man," Evan joked.

Ami smiled and glanced over to Jack. "Is it still disgusting?"

"Nopeeee,"

She lightly laughed. Jack was actually eating too, she was glad.

Just then her mom entered back into the room with a worried look.

"Jack?" she asked.

He looked up from his food. "Ma'am?"

"Did you not tell your mom you were came here?"

His face went completely white.

Tina turned to Jack, "You didn't tell your mom you were leaving?"

Jack didn't reply to anyone.

Mrs. Colibri spoke again, "Your mom just called me asking if I knew where you were,"

Jack ran a hand through his hair nervously. "She-, what did you say to her?"

"I told her you're here and I invited you to dinner. I told her I had no idea you never talked to her about coming over,"

"What-what did she say?" he asked, completely terrified. Not necessarily of his mom, but of everyone else wondering why he didn't tell her.

"She said you did not talk to her about coming over today. She said she called you multiple times and you didn't answer. She was very worried,"

_'Yes. My mom, the mom who hates my guts, worried. SO likely. She probably just said that to sound like a good mom to Ami's mom.' _Jack thought.

His face was still as white as his hair. "Do- erm- I- uh- do I still - do I have to um-" '_why can't I just talk?!' _he thought.

"Why didn't you tell your mom you were coming here?" Ami questioned.

"Jack, I'm disappointed in you. Why didn't you tell her?" Mrs. Colibri said.

His head hurt. It hurt so bad. He didn't want to think about this. He didn't want to explain how he yelled at his mom. Especially not infront of Ami's mom. He loved Ami's mom and didn't want to disappoint her.

"I- we- the-" he continued to struggle for words.

"I will let you stay until dinner is over if you give me a reasonable explanation on why you left without telling her,"

He felt like he couldn't breath. Everyone at the table was staring at him. He was so sick of this. He hated being the center of attention. He wanted to go unnoticed like before Emma died. He tried to suck in as much air as he could though his nose.

He couldn't explain to them. He couldn't tell them how he yelled at his mom about how horrible she was. He couldn't explain to them how he didn't want to disappoint them. Any of them. Yesterday he told himself he didn't have friends, nor deserved any. But he just now realized he was wrong. He loved them. He loved all of them. Ami, Sean, Nathan, Evan, Tina. He loved them so much. He was so happy someone actually cared about him. And he didn't want to... he didn't want to disappoint them. He could never explain how horrible his mother is to them, so they would think him yelling at her was just an act of rebel and not necessary.

"Jack, tell me why," Mrs. Colibri demanded.

He attempted to slow down his breathing but failed. "I- I can't. You... you wouldn't understand,"

Mrs. Colibri looked like she was trying to control her anger. And from her point of view, she had every right to be angry. She doesn't know that one of her best friends is practically mentally insane now.

"Jack. Come here, I need to talk to you,"

Jack squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and breathed in. A moment later, he slid off the chair and followed Mrs. Colibri out of the dinning room.

The second the door closed behind them, Mrs. Colibri turned to him. "What's going on? Please tell me. You know I won't be mad. I've known you since you were seven,"

Jack inwardly sighed. He wanted to tell her about his mom. He wanted to, but to explain that he'd practically have to explain everything else wrong in his life. Bullies, eating, everything. And... and he couldn't do that. No matter how much he wanted to. He loved Ami's mom. He really did. She was a mother figure to him, like a replacement mom for the one he hardly got. But he couldn't tell her everything. Not yet.

He shook his head, "I'm sorry. I can't. I really just... can't,"

Mrs. Colibri sighed, "I guessed you would say that. Listen, I don't want you to hate me because of this, but I'm going to have to take you home, okay? I haven't really talked to your mom since you moved back so I don't know if she's the same or not, but I still have to respect her. You're not my son. I have to respect her judgement and if she didn't allow you to come you're going to have to go home. I'll drive you home and I'll explain to her everything. I will try my hardest to make her not get mad at you, okay?"

He lightly nodded.

"Sorry,"

"It's fine..." he whispered. Yep, he disappointed her.

The two made their way back to the dining room but were surprised when everyone was gone but Ami.

"Where'd they go?" Mrs. Colibri asked.

Ami was stacking up the plates, "Nathan said he had to go home soon anyways so they decided to just leave. They all wanted me to thank you for letting them come over,"

The lady sighed again, seeming disappointed her guests left. "Okay. Well I have to take Jack home, do you wanna come?"

"Sure," she replied.

Exactly what he didn't want, just happened. He disappointed his freinds. All of them had to leave just because of his stupidness of not telling his mom where he was going.

"Sorry for ruining everything," he quietly whispered but guessed neither of them could hear him.

Mrs. Colibri sighed. "Let's go,"

The three made their way to the car. Ami and Jack both sat in the back.

Once they started driving, Jack shuffled through his hoodie pocket and picked up his phone.

5 missed calls from his mom. He thought she only called three times? Oh well. He knew she didn't call because she was worried. She just wanted another reason to yell at him. The thought of it scared Jack though. He didn't want to go back home. He didn't want to face her. He didn't want Mrs. Colibri explain everything. He didn't want to see her. He didn't think he could handle that. He shrunk back into the leather seat and brought his knees to his chest. Before he knew it, they were driving on the road Jack's house was on. His heart started beating faster. He started breathing faster. His head throbbed. His stomach felt like it was doing flips. His throat hurt. He placed his head on his knees. Against his will, tears fell from his eyes. He scolded himself for being so weak but he couldn't help it. He wasn't positive why he was so scared. ...his mom was terrible. She called him names and things but that wasn't a reason to be so scared, was it? Oh but he hadn't talked to her since he yelled at her last night. She was probably outraged. But she wouldn't do anything to him, right? She slapped him every once in awhile but she wouldn't technically_ abuse_ him, would she? His breathing got heavier, if that was possible.

"Jack?" he heard Ami ask. "What's wrong?"

He didn't reply. What could he say? '_Oh yeah hi Ami. What's wrong? Oh, I'm just terrified my mom will hate me and hurt me mentally and physically, but ya know. That's all. Nothing big or anything,'_

Suddenly the car stopped and Jack knew they were in front of his house.

_'Here we go,' _he thought.

He heard Ami unbuckle her seat belt. Then a moment later another one, guessing her mom's. Both doors opened and he could hear them sliding their feet to the ground. But he didn't move an inch.

A few seconds later he heard them whispering,

"Is Jack coming?" He heard Mrs. Colibri ask.

"Mom, I'm really worried. I think something is seriously wrong,"

Mrs. Colibri sighed. He heard her walking and a moment later the door on his side of the car opened up.

"Jack, we're here. You need to come inside," she said softly.

He felt ridiculous. He's fourteen years old and he's curled up on this seat. He seriously hated himself for everything he did.

He lightly nodded to the woman he wish he could call his mom. He fumbled with the buckle of the seat. Finally getting it, he slid his legs off the seat. He sucked in a ridiculous amount of air then pushed himself out of the car.

"Okay," he said, trying to slow down his breathing for the millionth time today, "Let's go..."

Ami closed the car door and then followed her mom and Jack up to the door.

**Guys, I'm actually happy with this chapter. That's a miracle. Anyways, when I made Ami's name, I made it Ami for a reason. Ami means 'friend' in French. Although i think it means a male friend. I think Amie is a female friend. As well as Colibri is suppose to mean Humingbird in french. And the dinner they made was some french meal I looked up. Although now some person from France is gonna read this story and then it'll look stupid because it's all gonna be wrong. I blame google translate ;c**


	18. Breathing

**Starting tomorrow I have to get up at 7:00 am for the next two weeks, and what am I doing at almost midnight? Writing. I was really in a writing mood today I'm not sure that's a good thing...**

The door swung open and imminently Jack's mom started talking,

"Jack! I was so worried! I didn't know where you were and why didn't you tell me? Oh I'm just glad you're okay!"

That's sick. His mom was obviously putting on a show just to pretend she was a good mother so Mrs. Colibri would like her. The thought made Jack want to throw up.

His mom went to hug him but the second they made contact Jack pushed past her, slightly shoving her into the rim of the doorframe.

"Don't touch me," he replied and disappeared from sight.

Mrs. Colibri and her daughter stared as Jack left, but a moment later shook it off.

"Mrs. Sifer, I'm sorry about Jack not telling you he was coming over. I clearly wouldn't have let him come if I had known. I just assumed he had asked you because he told Ami he could come over and-"

"It's fine Genevieve. It's not your fault. Jack and I have just been having problems communicating lately... it's really not your fault,"

"I still feel really bad about it. I really didn't know he didn't ask you. and oh, I'm sorry I hope things get better between you two,"

"It really is okay. I'm just glad he wasn't hurt. Don't worry about it. It's just been really difficult talking to him lately, but it makes since. With Emma and all. We'll ersolve it soon though. Thanks for your concern. But hey it's nice to see both of you guys. I don't recall seeing you since we moved back,"

"Too bad. Jack really is a good kid. And same for you. I missed both of you. Well I'm sure you want to go talk to Jack and things. It's getting late anyways so we need to head off to bed. I hope that Jack doesn't get in too much trouble. I'm sure he really did have his reasons for not telling you, so try not to be too harsh,"

"We'll see. Thanks for driving him back here. Goodnight,"

Mrs. Colibri nodded. "You're welcome. Okay, night,"

The front door closed and Mrs. Colibri and her daughter were left standing there.

"C'mon, let's go," Her mom said.

Making their way to the car, Ami spoke up.

"I feel bad saying this about another adult but I think something is wrong with his mom. I don't think she normally acts like that. She may have been faking that... just for us. I don't think she cares about Jack all that much. From what I've gotten from Jack, she's terrible. In the car driving here he looked like he was terrified to go home. And there must have been a reason for Jack not telling his mom..."

Mrs. Colibri slid into the drivers seat, "I don't know Ami. She did say they were having issues communicating, it could just be that. I think it's too soon to say anything. When I knew Mrs. Sifer she was a good mom. But we can keep our eyes open,"

Ami nodded. "But I still feel really bad..."

"Why?" her mom pulled out of Jack's driveway and started down the road.

"Well... Jack had a really bad day yesterday... and-"

"-what happened?"

"Nathan, Tina, and Evan found out about Emma. But they thought she was only in the hospital so they brought it up to him and he had to tell them what really happened..."

"Oh my...,"

"They all felt really bad about it so that's why I asked you if we could have them all over for dinner tonight. I hoped it would go well and get Jack's mind off everything. But then... that kinda got ruined,"

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry,"

"I mean it's not your fault or anything. I just don't trust Jack's mom anymore..."

Mrs. Colibri sighed.

"And mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I-I don't think Jack's okay... I'm really worried about him. Not only about his mom and everything but I'm pretty sure he... he doesn't eat,"

"What?"

"Like hardly eats. Whenever we're together he never eats. I got a donut once and asked him if he was hungry but he said he wasn't. Although I'm positive he didn't eat breakfast. A few days ago at the winter festival the others had to talk him into getting hot chocolate. And I'm not the only one who's noticed it. Evan told me how the other day they went to Nathan's house and all ate cookies but Jack didn't even eat a whole one. Sean was telling me how he saw Jack eating lunch one day and it was like half a granola bar. Once Tina told me about a time when they had to take him to the school nurse because he felt really sick. Like headache, stomach ache. The nurse never told them why he felt bad but Tina guessed it was from not eating enough. I wouldn't be surprised. He's so _so_ skinny and _pale_.

Her mom didn't say anything. She just listened intently at her daughter.

"What's going through his mind? That he's fat? He's like a toothpick. I'm just so worried. He doesn't deserve any of this. I have a feeling that it's not just Emma's death that's wearing him down..."

* * *

"Jack!"

He pretended like he didn't hear his mother's screaming.

His mom entered the living room and found her son lying face down on their couch.

"Jackson Overland Frost! I can't believe you!"

'_No Sifer? Okay, thanks...' _he thought.

He pushed himself into a sitting position.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD GO AND DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT. LEAVE WITHOUT TELLING ME AND THEN MAKING ME LOOK STUPID AND CARELESS INFRONT OF THE COLIBRIS?! WHAT DID YOU TELL THEM? DID YOU GO AND TELL THEM HORRIBLE UNTRUE THINGS ABOUT ME?"

He shook his head, coughed and pushed himself off the couch. "You know what I can't believe? That you'd pretend you care about me..." He tried to sound angry but honestly he was still terrified.

"IT WAS MY ONLY OPTION BECAUSE YOU-" but Jack cut her off.

"I don't understand why you can't _actually_ care about me. Why does it have to be pretend...?" He was trying so hard to be strong and not show how scared he was.

He pushed himself off the couch and started to walk to his bedroom, realizing he'd get nowhere with his mom.

"DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE WHEN I'M SPEAKING TO YOU!" Before he knew it, she turned around and gripped his wrist, squeezing it so hard. He was sure he already had bruises with how hard it was.

"Just leave me alone..." he whispered quietly.

Her eyes filled with rage. "Leave you alone? Don't tell _me_ what to do. You already did that enough yesterday! Who in the world do you think you are? Telling me who to be. Telling me I'm not a good parent. Who do you think you are!" she squeezed Jack's wrist more, if possible. "Who are you thinking you can tell me what I need to improve on? That I make everyone's lives terrible by knowing them?"

Jack couldn't point out why he was so terrified. His mom was saying terrible things about him but he shouldn't believe them, should he? She's practically insane. He hardly could breathe for some reason.

"Telling me not to talk to you until I know how to be a real parent? Oh Jack. _I_ know how to be a parent, you just need to learn how to be a proper son. Do you think you're some God? Saying that if you left I would have more problems? Yeah right. You're my only problem. I can't believe you're my actual son. I can't believe you were related to Emma, even if it was only half. She was perfect but you... you, you're a piece of nothing!" Out of nowhere she slapped him across the face. Honestly, he didn't see that coming at all.

Jack tried to leave but he couldn't. Her grip on his wrist was too tight. Tears started to form but Jack tried his hardest to not let them spill. His cheek stung. He gasped for air. He didn't understand why he couldn't breathe, but he just couldn't. He started getting dizzy.

His mom continued yelling but he couldn't hear the words. They all blurred together and it was just loud confusing yelling. He was trying to focus on not to go unconscious. '_I just need to calm myself down. I'm freaking my body out. Calm down. Calm down. I'm not even that scared. I just need to calm down. I'm freaking out and it's making me dizzy. I just need to breathe. In. Out. In. Out. She won't hurt me. She won't hurt me. I need to stop listening to the words she's saying. I just have to stop listening. She doesn't know what she's talking about. I'm not all that stuff. She's just mad. In. Out. In. Out.'_

The yelling cleared a little.

"You're such a disappointment. Beyond a disappointment, you brat. I don't understand how you have any friends. Probably just feel bad for you. You probably use little excuses like 'oh my mom hates me' and then they feel bad for you, right?"

He couldn't hold them back anymore. Tears fell down his face. The circulation from his wrist felt like it was getting cut off.

"Why didn't you just freaking tell me you were leaving today? Now the Colibris think I'm heartless,"

_I can't... I can't just stand here anymore. My head hurts. My head hurts. It's so hard to breathe. _

"Let go of me please..." Jack whispered hoarsely. It sounded extremely weak and pathetic, but his mom caught it.

"Let go of you? Have you not been listening to me at all? Answer my question! Why didn't you tell me you were leaving? What did you tell Ami's mom?!"

Jack shook his head lightly. "Nothi" He sucked in as much air as he could get, "Nothing..."

She slapped him across the face again, with her other hand, the one not attached to Jack's wrist. "I don't believe that for a second,"

His face was burning but he could deal with the pain. He was still more worried about his breathing.

"I didn't..." he barely finished the two words before she slapped him again.

The slaps definitely weren't helping his breathing and dizziness.

She released his wrist and pushed her son back. Jack stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Just don't even talk to me until you will tell me what you actually told Ami's family. Get out of my sight,"

Exiting the room, she left her son lying on the floor.

The impact from the fall knocked whatever little air was left in Jack's body, out. He couldn't breathe at all now. He tried, but couldn't.

_'In. Out. In. Out. Calm down.' _but still no air got to his body. He was still lying on the floor. He had managed to push himself on his side. He didn't know if lying on your back or side allowed easier breathing though.

It wasn't working. He couldn't breathe. He _couldn't_. It was as if his nose and mouth were blocked off from every other part of his body making air flow impossible.

_'In._

_Out._

_Breathe._

_I can't._

_Breathe._

_Yes I can._

_In._

_Out._

_Please._

_I can do this._

_Just have to get air in my body._

_I can do it._

_In._

_Out._

_In._

_Out.'_

**I used the word 'breath' 11 times in this chapter.._._**

**Quick shoutout to my reviewers! I seriously love all of you guys. Lately I have gotten the best reviews ever. They're so funny and just great all together. Sometimes I forget to reply, but don't worry I read every single review. Thank you so much. Well and my followers and readers. You're all just awesome.**


	19. You okay, Jack?

**Hey guys! Sorry for being inactive lately! I've been under a lot of stress lately. **

**Anyways, I couldn't figure out how to make transitions between each scene so I apologize in advance if they're not the best D: well enjoy this chapter! c;**

**warning?: the beginning of this chapter has a little blood. I don't feel like it's that bad at all but if you don't like that type of stuff I suggest not reading this. **

70 seconds. _Over a minute. _That's how long it took before he could breathe again_._

The second his lungs allowed him, he sucked up as much air as he could get. Which probably wasn't a very smart idea.

The amount of air pushed through his body caused the coughs to bring a little blood with them. Coughing blood. That's great. He pushed himself off the hallway floor and dragged his body to the bathroom. He couldn't stop coughing, and it was _blood._ Only a little, but it was still there. He tried slowing down his breathing in between coughs but it hardly worked. He could barely get his thoughts straight. What had even just happened to him? The only clear moment he had was standing in front of Ami's house waiting for her to answer the door. What happened after that? It was all a blur.

_We talked._

_I talked._

_I talked to Mrs. Colibri._

_We talked about our families before all of this happened._

_But then Ami yelled at me._

_Why'd she yell at me?_

_No wait. She didn't._

_That's not what happened._

_No._

_We ate dinner._

_Yeah, that's it._

_It was fun, I enjoyed it. But then my mom called._

_My mom she... she wanted..._

_she wanted to know where I was._

_And I lied to her. Basically._

_I lied to Mrs. Colibri too._

_And Ami._

_Tina, Evan, Nathan, Sean. I lied to all of them, pretty much._

_They all left and Mrs. Colibri drove me home._

_My mom lied to her._

_She lied to Mrs. Colibri about our lives now._

_..but I can't argue. I lied too._

_Then mom got mad._

_She got really mad._

_Why did she get so mad?_

...

_Because I lied to her, obviously._

_That's why she got mad._

_…_

_No._

_Mom might be kinda insane but something like me lying wouldn't have made her this mad._

_Something must have happened._

_What happened?_

_Something._

_Something must have triggered her to make her this mad._

_I wonder..._

But Jack's thoughts were broken by the coughing. It lasted minutes as he leaned over the toilet. This wasn't a very fun night for Jack.

Finally back to normal coughs and slowed down breathing, Jack slid down onto the bathroom floor and let himself cry. What was he suppose to do? His mom officially hated him. Ami and her mom were disappointed in him since he never asked his mom for permission to come over. The others are probably angry since he made them leave and ruined their fun night. He continued to cough as he sat on the hard floor. He really was absolutely clueless as for what to do.

He was never a fan of Friday's. Even though normally it's the last day of school before the weekend. He rolled on his side trying to fall back asleep. He hadn't thought about where he was sleeping though. He lied there for a few minutes but the dark dullness didn't come. Giving up, he slowly fluttered his eyes open.

The second his eyes opened, a horrible pain shot through his body. His chest burned terribly. He went to grip the bed frame to calm himself but then realized he wasn't in his bed. He was lying down on a hard floor. The bathroom floor. He quickly dismissed the thought of how disgusting it was he fell asleep on the bathroom floor and tried to make the pain in his chest stop. Slowly standing up, he grabbed the handle to the door for support. But he quickly let go, remembering his wrist. Reluctantly letting himself be weak for a moment, tears fell down his face.

* * *

It was Monday morning and Tina was overjoyed she'd be going to school again today. She enjoyed the break but she was ready to go back to her normal schedule again. Besides, she hadn't seen Jack or any of her other friends since Thursday night. She hoped Jack was okay after what happened. Oh well, no need worrying about it now. She had to get up for school! She quickly got ready and waited outside her front door for her friends. Nathan had said he was going to pick her up this morning. He pulled up and she carefully got in.

"Hi!" She chirped.

"Mornin' Tina," Evan yawned.

"Have you guys heard from Jack?"

"No, I haven't seen him since Thursday," Nathan replied as he started the drive to school.

Tina sighed. "I hope he's okay,"

"Worrying won't help the kid," Evan said.

She nodded and they drove the rest of the way to school in silence.

In Tina's opinion, the classes seemed to fly. She got to catch up with some of her other friends on what they did over the break and she enjoyed every moment of it. The day would be perfect, but she felt that there was something missing. She couldn't place her finger on it though.

The last bell rang.

Closing her binder, she felt someone tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Evan.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You were fidgeting in your seat all period. What's up?"

"I-I don't know. I feel like something's wrong but I just.. I can't think of what,"

Evan looked at her strangely. He was about to ask what she meant but he got interrupted.

"Tina, Evan!" Mr. Marvin started his way towards them.

"Yes, sir?"

"You guys are friends with Jack, right? You were his partner for the project,"

"Yeah," Tina replied. What did he want?

"Do you guys know where he is? I called his mom to ask why her son wasn't in school today and she said she watched him walk out the front door this morning,"

Tina stood there with a horrified look on her face.

Evan spoke up for her, "No we don't. We saw him on Thursday but that was the last time. But we'll go over to his house right now and figure out,"

"Thanks," Mr. Marvin replied.

Evan nodded, grabbed Tina by the wrist and pulled her outside the classroom.

"What was that about?!" Evan said once they were in the hallway.

"I-I don't know. But that's what felt odd! I hadn't even noticed Jack had been missing for two periods..."

"Well, from what Jack and Ami say, I don't think we should believe his mom. I think we should go to the Snowball Head's house right now,"

Tina lightly laughed. "Aww look, Evan really does care about Jack,"

"Err- whatever. Let's go,"

She nodded and followed Evan out the school doors to find their friends.

"Hey! We were beginning to wonder if you guys got another ride home," Nathan yelled once he saw the two.

"Something's wrong with Jack," Evan climbed into Nathan's car.

"What?"

"Mr. Marvin, he asked me and Tina if we knew where he was. He called Jack's mom and she said he left the house this morning to go to school. But he never showed up,"

"But should we trust his mom? From what we know about her..." Nathan said and started up the car.

"Exactly,"

"So you think something's up?" Nathan watched as Sean and Tina got into the car as well.

Evan nodded.

"Well then, to Jack's house we go!"

"I feel like we're in one of those mystery movies!" Tina exclaimed. Her three friends looked at her strangely for a moment but put their focus back on the house. Evan reached over and rung the doorbell.

It took a few moments but eventually the old door swung open.

"Yeah?" a man said.

The four teens standing on the porch were shocked. Tina thought perhaps it was the wrong house? She looked to her left and right and was sure it was the right one. But who is this man? He-..._ he looks like Jack._ She was sure her facial expression was ridiculous. It's his dad. _His_ dad. Jack's dad. Why was he here? Didn't Ami say he left both of them years and years ago? What was he doing here?

Evan spoke up. "Is Jack here? He didn't show up to school today and we were just wondering if he's-"

The man laughed. A laugh that filled the area with what seemed like.. joy? Tina thought.

"Nice to know Jack has some friends. I was afraid he'd be that one weird shy quiet kid who ate lunch by himself, y'know?" the man smiled.

"Yeahh, no offense, who are you?"

Tina could hear the confusion in Evan's voice.

"Mr. Frost. I'm Jack's dad,"

wut. wut. wut.

**thought he was a scummy old man who didn't care about his family, eh? :P**

**In the reviews you guys are guessing all this stuff and not to spoil anything but... y'all are pretty good guessers. **


	20. You'll never understand

**I really am sorry for taking so long to update but I've been under so much stress lately I can't even. ;c**

"So where's your mom?"

Evan sat on Jack's bed, along with Jack and Sandy. Nathan stood by the door and Tina sat on the floor beside him.

"I haven't seen her since Thursday..." Jack replied quietly.

"Since Thursday? It's Monday. How can you avoid her for 4 days?"

"I haven't been avoiding her..."

"What?" Evan questioned.

"She left... or something," he moved around on the bed uncomfortably.

"Wait, she just left you here by yourself?" Tina joined in.

Jack nodded.

"Why? Where'd she go?"

"I... don't know,"

"She didn't tell you where she was going or even why?"

He shook his head slowly. "My guess is she left because my dad was coming home and she didn't want to see him. But we got in a fight Thursday and... I... um passed out in the bathroom and when I woke up she wasn't anywhere around,"

"Wait," Nathan sounded worried. "You passed out in the _bathroom_? You got in a fight? What happened?!"

"N-nothing. It's fine, I'm fine. Don't worry. It was mostly just yelling,"

"Not if you ended up passed out on the bathroom floor!" Nathan practically yelled. Sandy nodded in agreement.

Jack's mood changed, "I'm okay! Stop asking! It's really none of your business!"

Evan seemed mad by Jack's change, "Actually I think it is, Jack. Because we are your friends and practically the only people you have in your life besides that guy who claims to be your father, but left you for no reason at all,"

Tina moved towards the bed and grabbed Evan by the shoulder. "Stop," she said, "Jack doesn't have to tell us about it if he doesn't want to,"

Evan seemed irritated but he nodded.

A moment of silence went by before Tina spoke. "When did your dad get here?"

"Last night. I haven't talked to him yet though..."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, Tina. Why don't you guess? Because he left me! He left me with my awful mother! What am I suppose to say to him?! 'Oh I know you left me for like 14 years to let me go through living with my terrible mom and hating my life, but y'know, I'm so gonna accept you into my life now because you're here now,"

"...sorry," Tina replied quietly, wishing she could take back her question.

"No. I don't expect you to understand. I don't expect any of you to understand what my life is like. Everyday waking up and hating that I exist and everything about my life. I hate my mom for everything she's done to me and I hate myself. I hate my dad for leaving me and I hate that the one thing that gave me joy in living this life, died. So no, I don't expect you to understand what I'm going through so whatever. I'm not trying for sympathy but you asked it yourself,"

"Jack. Stop it. We all understand that none of us know what you're going through, but we're just trying to help. I'm sorry about everything but you can't just block us out and get mad whenever we ask questions. We want to help," Evan replied, upset at Jack's attitude to Tina.

_Didn't Jack's dad say something like 'you wouldn't understand' earlier, too? _Tina thought.

**-_earlier_**

"_What_?"

"I'm Jack's dad,"

Evan stood there completely baffled.

"I guess he was too young to remember me..."

"Um yeah. Explain this please," Evan was getting a little annoyed with this guy.

"Look I'm telling the truth,"

Tina cut in. "He is. Ami told me,"

"And you didn't tell us?" Nathan shot at Ami. Sean had a look of betrayal on his face.

"Hold on guys. Lemme explain," Tina nodded to Mr. Frost to see if it was okay to tell the others.

"I guess. Might as well, they already know half of the story. Why not the whole thing,"

"Mr. Frost married Jack's mom and they had Jack but then Mr. Frost left them. Jack's mom remarried later and had Emma but then her husband died in war,"

"So Emma and Jack aren't fully related?" Evan questioned.

"No, they're not,"

"Why did he leave Jack and his mom?" Nathan wondered.

"I don't know. Why _did_ you leave them? And why are you back?" Tina looked at the man standing in front of them.

Mr. Frost took a moment to answer, "I'm not here for Jack..."

He shifted his weight to his other leg, "I'm re-marrying... but all my divorce papers from Jack's mom are still here.. and I needed them. To confirm that I am no longer married to another woman..."

"Wait, so you came here just to get them back?"

"I didn't want to come all this way here just for a few papers. I live quite far away now. I asked Jack's mom to send them to me but she refused. I told her if she did not send them then I'd have to come here myself. And I guess that's why she's not here now..."

"How dare you do something like that to Jack!" someone screamed but he wasn't sure who.

"Do what, exactly?"

"Any of this!" It was Tina, he confirmed. By the high pitched voice. "First you leave him with his mental mother and then you come back years later and he probably thinks you're here for him but really you're just here to get some stupid papers so you can re-marry and completely forget about your old life, including Jack,"

"I didn't expect it to work out like this,"

"Well it did!" Tina felt a little nervous, she was talking to an adult after all!

"Look, I'm not saying I don't want Jack in my life. It was me at first, but now I'm willing to accept him. I can come hang out with him once a month if he would like. I won't completely avoid him anymore. But I do have a life outside of him,"

"I just can't believe you'd give up your son like this. I mean so many women have such difficult times giving their child up for adoption but they do it because they know it's for the best. But you? It's for the worst to leave him, and you're willingly letting him go. I don't understand you,"

"I don't expect for you to understand. You're all just high school students after all,"

"Whatever. Can we just see him?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea,"

"We're his friends! We haven't known him his whole life but we've been there for him more than you have!"

Nathan glared at Tina. She was getting a little too mad at this guy. "Sorry. But we would like to make sure Jack is okay,"

Mr. Frost sighed, "okay," he stepped outside of the doorway and led the three friends in.

They followed him to where Jack's room was. The door was closed and Mr. Frost knocked.

"Jack, some of your friends are here. I'm gonna let them in, okay?"

**ohhkay, kinda filler. And short. I know. After you guys have waited so long I wanted to put up a really long chapter but ugh. i don't mean to just complain but the amount of stuff going on in my life right now is ridiculous and I dont have as much time or inspiration to write this as much as before. summer break is over now too so. but yeah. I really am sorry, i know how it is when one of your favorite stories doesn't ever update. so i will try my hardest to write more of this but. shrugs. **


	21. Overthinking When You're Lonely Can Hurt

**Hey! I just wanted to say happy birthday to a wonderful friend of mine that I met on here, ColorfulandBlack. I'm so glad you became my friend because I absolutely love talking to you. You always brighten up my day, give me inspiration and support me when I have awful writers block. So, I wanted to write a nice long chapter just for you. Happy birthday dear! ( although since we're in different time zones, I think it's actually a day past your birthday now where you are. )**

Nathan moved over so he was closer to Jack, "You know what Jack? We'll stop trying. You obviously don't want to tell us what's going on in your life, so we'll stop bothering you. It's gotten to the point of absolutely ridiculous because I feel as if we've had at least five conversations about how you need to tell us what's wrong, and then you give us excuses like we won't understand and that you're fine. So whatever, we'll all stop bugging you about it. Because you obviously aren't going to tell us,"

"What?" Evan argued.

"We won't bother him about his life anymore, he's not going to tell us anyways,"

Nathan started his way towards the door, then paused. "But I hope that one day, you will learn to trust us and you'll tell us what's on your mind. Until then, we won't ask,"

* * *

It was April 6th. It had been a few weeks since Jack's dad came. He stayed for the next two days but then left. His mom didn't come back until the following week. Jack didn't go to school while his mom and dad were gone. There was nobody there to make him go, so why should he? When his mother came home, she yelled at Jack for skipping school in the time of her absence. But she wasn't exactly herself. She didn't yell at Jack _as_ often or make him do annoying chores. For the most part, she ignored him. There was never a moment where she was loving, but she didn't appear to be absolutely hateful either. As if she had forgotten the events that happened after Jack came home from Ami's house. Jack wondered where she went for that week she was missing, and how she felt about her ex-husband coming back. He wondered if she knew he was re-marrying. Well, if she did, she shouldn't feel upset about it. His mom had already remarried and besides, it was almost 14 since his father left.

He sighed as he slowly placed his textbook in his locker. He hadn't talked to his friends recently, either. They said hi when they see eachother in the halls, but that's basically it. The others were welcoming with Jack continuing to eat lunch with them, but Jack refused. He'd rather sit by himself.

He closed the door and spun the knob, making sure it was securely locked. It was Friday already and Jack was about to start his walk home when someone stopped him. He glanced over his shoulder to see who it was that grabbed him. He recognized the guy's face but he couldn't place the name. There were two boys standing on either side of him, in total three.

"Hey,_Jake_," the middle boy said bitterly.

That's when it hit Jack who the boy was.

"Goodbye," Jack spun back around and quickly started walking towards the exit of the school.

"You didn't think a few punches and kicks was all you were going to get, did you?" the same boy yelled.

Jack continued to ignore him, just like he did before.

"It's been awhile. A month or two. But don't think I've forgotten,"

"Leave me alone, Logan,"

"I'll get my real pay back soon, just you wait and see, twirp,"

Jack didn't dare look back at the group, but he could hear Logan's two friends laughing and their footsteps, walking the other direction in the hall. Jack let out a big sigh. He had actually forgotten about Logan. He wondered why Logan was so set on getting revenge. It was just a waterbottle... why did he care to the point that he still wants Jack to pay for it, months later? And what was Logan going to do to punish him? Jack tried to shake all the images that filled his mind, out. He needed to distract his mind from the situation for the walk home.

He pushed the school doors open and noticed quite a few students loitering in in the courtyard. He wondered why they didn't just leave. It was Friday, and he sure knew he wouldn't want to be at school longer then required. But then, he thought of his friends. If he still talked to them, maybe Jack wouldn't mind staying after school. If he was with his friends, just talking and hanging out, he supposed waiting after school would be fun. Jack rationalized perhaps these students were doing that themselves. Talking and having a good time with their friends. It didn't matter the location, just the company. And since they were already at the school, it was an easy hang out spot. He thought that the security made all students leave the school by 3:30 if they weren't with a teacher though. So his classmates wouldn't be able to stay here for long, it was only a few minutes til 3:30. Jack pushed past the groups of kids, each in their own little cliche. There was a long wire fence along the school and down an inconvenient pathway that every time someone left the school, had to follow. He found it easier to climb over the fence, rather then walk all the way down the path to exit it. He shrugged his backpack off and swung it over the wire barrier. He placed one foot in the wire, grabbed the top bar, and pushed himself up. One foot was still in the fence and the other dangling in air. He quickly shifted his weight and switched the positions of his feet, on the other side. Once on the other side of the wire, he jumped down. Jack wondered if he was one of the few kids who climbed the fence. Students would constantly complain about how far down the fence stretches and how pointless it seems. But he hardly ever saw other people climb the fence. Could they not just because it was too high and Jack only could because he was light and tall? Or was climbing the fence something that he could get in trouble for doing so nobody else did it? He sighed, it's not like it mattered if other kids climbed the fence or not. It didn't matter at all. Why did he even care? Grabbing his backpack, he started his walk home. He observed a few teenagers pulling out of the school parking lot. He began to wonder where they were off too. Where did they go on Friday nights after the school security kicked them out of the school? He was actually quite interested. What was the life of a normal teenager who had friends, like? He remembered a few weeks back when Nathan invited him to get icecream one day. Perhaps they just hung out at their friends houses and played stupid games. He imagined all his classmates hanging out together at someone's house, and it seemed nice. All the sudden Jack had a longing for that. He felt lonely. He didn't want to spend his Friday night sitting in his room feeling sorry for himself. He wanted to do what most good kids his age do Friday nights. He decided he would call Nathan and ask if he could hang out with them tonight. It would be the first time really having a conversation with his old friends since the day they met his dad. He wondered if they still wanted to hang out with him. Well, it was worth a shot. Taking his phone from his pocket, he scrolled through his very few amount of numbers til he found Nathan's. He clicked it and placed the phone up to his ear. It rang for a minute and then a beep.

_"Hey! It's Nathan. I guess I can't make it to the phone right now, probably baking cookies! Just leave me a voicemail and I'll try to call you back whenever I can!"_

Jack closed the phone, not wanting to leave a voicemail. He sighed, oh well. Surely the others would be with Nathan, and if Nathan was busy, then all of them were too. He guessed his Friday night would be spent alone after all.

He decided to go to the playground and hang out there for a little. He knew it would be full of little kids, but he didn't care. Jack would rather spend it outside doing something rather then hiding from his mom in his bedroom. Besides, he used to always go to the playground with Emma. Then he remembered, today was the day that Emma got admitted to the hospital last year, Jack recalled. He remembered going in with his mom to drop Emma off. He remembered waiting in the office of the hospital for his mom to finish signing all the papers. He remembered staying there hours, keep Emma entertained while she lied in bed. He even slept on the couch by her bed, but in the morning he had to leave because the doctors wanted to try tests and scans on the young girl. He remembered the long drive home, and how his mom wouldn't let him visit Emma for the next few days because it was such a long drive to the hospital and mom didn't have the money to pay for gas to drive all the way there and then back. He shrugged, pulling himself out of his thoughts. He wondered why he was thinking of so many things today. He guessed because he was lonely, whenever he needed to entertain himself he would do it by his thoughts.

By this time, Jack had made his way to the playground. Only two kids were there, one on the slide while the other climbed the monkey bars. There was only one parent there, so he guessed they were siblings.

Jack occupied himself with the children toys for about a half hour. Finally he grew tired after his fifth time on the monkey bars. The other kids had been gone, they left almost right after he got there. Jack made his way to a bench on the other side of the park where his backpack lay. He flipped his phone open to check the time. It was almost five. Nathan hadn't called him back yet, either. He decided to do his homework. It seemed like a relativity random time to do schoolwork, but in the park sounded better then at home. Here, he was actually in a happy environment He guessed he'd get his work finished faster here if he didn't have the distractions he has at home. He worked on a handout that was given in biology for a few minutes, but before he knew it he fell asleep.

* * *

Waking up with a pounding headache, Jack pushed himself into a sitting position on the wooden bench. He noticed his biology papers were still spread across the bench. He carefully placed them into his green binder. He was about to place them in his backpack when he saw it. It was torn apart, little pieces of the black and blue material littering the grass. It was dark out, but Jack could see from the street lamps. Everything was out of his backpack. Every paper in his bag was either torn or crumbled. A few of his binders were broken and dirty as well. He quickly stood up and looked around for all of his things. It took him 10 minutes, but he found most of his things. He had wanted to look through the binders and notebooks to see what was worth keeping and what to throw away, but it was too dark and he was too tired to do that at the moment. He found his flashdrive had been torn apart though. His mom for sure wouldn't buy him another one. When he picked up the remains of his backpack though, a piece of paper fell out. He reached for the paper and opened it up.

"_Told you. And this is just the start,_

_-L"_

L? He wondered who that could be, but then it hit him. Logan. How did he even know Jack was here? How did he not wake up when Logan sabotaged his things? Jack frowned.

He had pilled up the useless broken things, wanting to throw them away. But there was no trashcans in the park at the moment. It was getting late and he assumed the garbage man had already come by to take the trashcans and would return them in the morning. Not wanting to litter, he found a relatively stable way to carry them and the other school supplies he needed to bring home. He looked at his phone clock quickly though, it was only 7:00 but it was already growing incredibly dark. He hadn't wanted to sleep that long. He hadn't even wanted to go to sleep at all.

Jack was still about 20 minutes away from his house when he began to grow extremely frustrated. He had already dropped the things at least ten times, tripped over a tree stump, slammed into a light post (and to note, he had no idea how that happened. Since it is a _light _post, a person would think that it would be very visible but apparently not to Jack), and got scrapped by bushes. This was not a good night for him. His arms had thorn scrapes all over them when he tried to take a shortcut home through bushes. He had taken off his hoodie, finding it easiest to wrap the destroyed school supplies in. A bruise was already forming on his knee from falling, a bump on his forehead and he was completely covered in dirt. Not to mention that he was having thought about Emma again. Afterall, it was the day that his family basically accepted that she was sick, finally admitting her into the hospital.

He was about to collapse on the floor, giving up on the walk home when his phone rang. It took him almost a minute to shift around the things to be able to grab his phone. Finally he got it. It was Nathan.

"Yeah," Jack said, utterly exhausted.

"Hey Jack! Sorry I'm so late calling you back. My phone died. Did you need something?"

"No. It's fine. I'm fine," he replied, the two notebooks on the top of the stack falling. "I can't really talk now though,"

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah I'm just trying to go home and all my school stuff got destroyed and I'm trying to carry it and it keeps dropping and I keep running into stuff and I'm just not having a good night,"

"Where are you? I can come pick you up if you'd like,"

"I'm on White Rain Rd. But you don't have to, I'll be home-"

"I'm on my way. Be there in about 5,"

Before Jack could object, Nathan hung up. He was glad Nathan was coming to pick him up, he'd probably kill someone if he had to walk another block with these things. But he felt like he was being a problem to Nathan. His friend was driving here on his Friday night to pick up a worthless friend who hasn't spoken to him for weeks. Jack felt really guilty about this.

In five minutes, like Nathan said, Jack spotted a car drive up and stop by him. He could see Nathan through the window in the driver's seat. It took Jack a minute, but eventually ended up getting the passenger door open.

"So what exactly happened to all your stuff?" Nathan questioned once Jack was in the car.

"I fell asleep on the park bench and...( he thought it best to keep out the part about Logan ) I guess a dog came and torn up my bag because when I woke up my papers were torn along with the backpack," he gestured to the mess of stuff beside him.

"Oh. I'm sorry about that,"

"It's okay I guess. Not your fault,"

"Why were you sleeping on a park bench?"

"Oh um after school I was really bored and kinda lonely so I tried to call you to like hang out with you tonight but then you never answered so I decided to go to the park. I fell asleep there,"

"Ah. One more question."

"Go for it,"

"Why are you covered in dirt and look like you just got attacked by monkeys?"

"Do I really look that attractive right now?" the white haired kid joked.

"No, not even close,"

"Like I said earlier, it was really hard to carry all those things and I'm not the smartest and ran into a few things on my way here. Don't know how, but I did,"

"I see," Nathan laughed and started up the car. Soon Jack was laughing with him.

They talked and laughed for a few minutes about how clumsy Jack is and they both enjoyed the conversation.

"And you were at the playground no less. The playground. You went to a little kids place and all this bad stuff happened to you. It's hilarious. I mean what teenage boy goes to the playground on their Friday night?" Nathan laughed at his own response, but Jack on the other hand wasn't too fond of the comment and his laughter died down.

He wasn't necessarily offended that Nathan made fun of him for going to the playground. He was just upset because it was his and Emma's thing to do, and Nathan obviously didn't see that. And he didn't get that that _was_ Jack's Friday nights They were always full of lame things but it didn't matter as long as he had fun doing it, and most of the time he did. Even before the Emma thing, he wasn't like Nathan and had friends he could call on whenever. He entertained himself and his sister. He found ways and he enjoyed them. And Nathan couldn't see that at all.

Jack went to the park tonight for Emma. Because this exact day last year was the last time Jack ever saw his little sister without a hospital band around her arm scribbled with words he wish could go away, or having needles poked into her arms constantly. It was the last day he saw his sister, actually being herself. And underneath all of Jack's sadness, low self-esteem, and everything else messed up in his life, his real self was fun. And what better way to bring out a person's fun side then the playground? Jack was just upset that Nathan was so blind to these facts. He knew his other friends would react the same though. None of them would understand, and that upset him.

**Sooo I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I know it seems really filler, but kinda in my mind it's not? Because I felt like I explained everything really well and I felt like that was really required for this chapter. And even though the story line didn't really grow, in this chapter, I feel like you learn a lot. If you really look into everything I explained. Haha... idk. I feel like at the end I wrote the chapter pretty good but I feel the beginning is extremely bad. So yeah...kinda mixed emotions about this chapter. But anyways, the next chapter is super important and it totally won't be filler so get excited! c:**

**Btw...I kinda broke my laptop... again... ;-; and so I typed this on my brother's laptop but I'm not sure how often he'll let me use his so I don't know how often updates will be. :c**


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